Relations between Vietnam and the Republic of Korea (RoK) havebeen greatly extended and deepened for peace, stability and developmentcooperation for the two peoples.

This statementwas made by the President of Ho Chi Minh City Vietnam-RoK FriendshipAssociation Vu Van Hoa at a ceremony to mark the 18 th anniversary ofthe establishment of Vietnam- RoK diplomatic ties, in HCM City onDec. 22.

The two countries lifted diplomatic ties toa comprehensive cooperation relationship in 2001 and to a strategiccooperative partnership in 2009, Hoa said.

Atthe event, the RoK’s Consul General in HCM City Kim Sang Yoon stressedthat the two countries’ relations had made great progress over the past18 years.

He said the RoK has successfully assumedthe Chair of the Group of 20 (G20) and Vietnam , the Chair of theAssociation of the Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) this year. He saidthis helps not only to raise the two countries’ status in the worldarena but also bolster their cooperation.

PresidentHoa and the RoK Consul General noted that the RoK’s direct investmentinto Vietnam is increasing, reaching nearly 23 billion USD as ofNovember this year, up 250 times compared with 1992.

The two countries have exchanged about 500,000 tourists each year andthere are nearly 100,000 Vietnamese living in the RoK and the samenumber of the RoK people living in HCM City, they said.

At the grassroots level, HCM City and RoK’s localities haveregularly conducted a large number of exchanges for businesses, scholarsand students as well as a wide range of cultural, sporting andcharitable programmes./.