Vietnamese NA Chairman, South Korean counterpart Seoul talks to boost strategic partnership

SEOUL, September 7, 2026 -- Top Vietnamese legislator Tran Thanh Man held talks with Speaker of the National Assembly of South Korea Cho Jeong-sik in Seoul, aiming to consolidate political trust and accelerate the implementation of high-level agreements. The visit also seeks to boost bilateral relations, including those reached during General Secretary and President To Lam's visit to South Korea in August 2025 and President Lee Jae Myung's visit to Vietnam in April 2026. Tran pledged that Vietnam would create favorable conditions for Vietnamese citizens and businesses in South Korea, including members of Vietnamese-Korean multicultural families. Speaker Cho praised Vietnam's significant development achievements and rising international stature, expressing confidence in Vietnam's ability to achieve its national development goals. He affirmed South Korea's readiness to accompany Vietnam in its next stage of development. Tran affirmed that Vietnam consistently regards South Korea as one of its most important strategic partners and expressed his wish for bilateral relations to develop more strongly, substantively, and effectively across all areas. Appreciating the significant contributions of Korean businesses to Vietnam's socio-economic development, Tran called on the Korean legislature to encourage Korean companies to expand investment in Vietnam in priority sectors such as infrastructure, semiconductors, large-scale AI data centers, energy, and seaports. He also urged the Korean side to facilitate greater participation by Vietnamese enterprises in Korean manufacturing supply chains and promote further market opening for goods from both countries. The two sides agreed to maintain regular high-level strategic exchanges and develop a strategic vision for economic connectivity suited to the new circumstances. They set a goal of raising two-way trade to US$100 billion in 2026 and US$150 billion by 2030 in a balanced and sustainable manner. They agreed to prioritize non-refundable and concessional official development assistance (ODA) for Vietnamese projects, make science and technology a key driver of bilateral relations, and improve policies to facilitate long-term investment by businesses of both countries. Cooperation in human resource training, culture, tourism, and people-to-people exchanges will be expanded, while protecting the legitimate interests of Vietnamese and Korean communities in each other's countries, including around 100,000 Vietnamese-Korean multicultural families. Regarding parliamentary cooperation, the leaders welcomed recent progress and underscored the important role of parliamentary diplomacy. They agreed to increase delegation exchanges, share legislative experience, strengthen cooperation among specialized committees, and effectively implement the memorandum of understanding on parliamentary cooperation signed in November 2025. Both sides agreed to enhance coordination in supervising the implementation of international treaties and government cooperation agreements, improve policies and laws to create a favorable legal environment for businesses and citizens, and continue to coordinate and support each other at regional and global inter-parliamentary forums. On regional and international issues, they agreed to strengthen coordination and mutual support at multilateral forums. President Tran asked South Korea to share its experience and support Vietnam in hosting APEC Economic Leaders' Week 2027, while stepping up coordination at the United Nations and effectively implementing ASEAN-South Korea and Mekong-South Korean cooperation mechanisms.