Vietnam and the Republic of Korea have signed a number of Memoranda ofUnderstanding on cooperation in science and technology during a workingvisit to the RoK by Vietnamese Minister of Information andCommunications Nguyen Bac Son in early July.

Attalks between Son and the RoK’s Minister of Government Administrationand Home Affairs Chong Jong-sup, the two sides signed a Memorandum ofUnderstanding on e-government cooperation and agreed to maintain theoperation of the joint cooperation committee on informatics.

Minister Chong Jong-sup said the RoK has topped the world for manyconsecutive years in terms of the e-government development index of theUnited Nations. The country has completed the building of ane-governmental system linking ministries, government and localities.

The RoK is willing to share experience in building national databaseand how to utilize and manage these information sources, and suggestmeasures to build smart cities, he said.

TheVietnamese official also held talks with RoK’s Minister of Science,Information Communications Technology, and Future Planning ChoiYang-hee, during which they agreed to encourage IT and telecombusinesses to increase information exchange and seek cooperationopportunities in human resources training, education, and informationsecurity.

After the talks, the two ministers inked anew Memorandum of Understanding on comprehensive cooperation inscience, technology and communications between Vietnam and the RoK.

The officials agreed to establish a joint committee on implementing commitments in the agreement.

The two ministers later took part in a forum to boost the investment cooperation in the field.

Minister Son said the RoK is the third biggest trade partner and thesecond largest investor of Vietnam, with 1.52 billion USD in totalinvestment capital poured into Vietnam in the first half of this year,making up 27.7 percent of the total foreign direct investment in thecountry in the period.

The two ministers witnessedthe signing of two Memoranda of Understanding on cooperation between theVietnam Posts and Telecommunications Group (VNPT) and the RoK LGElectronics Group as well as between the Vietnamese major mobile networkoperator Vinaphone and the RoK Bigstar Global.

During his stay from July 1-3, Minister Son also had working sessionswith representatives from Samsung Electronics and Dongbu insurancegroups.

The Minister witnessed the signing of aMemorandum of Understanding on cooperation between the Vietnamese mobilenetwork operator Mobifone and Samsung group to develop the 4G/LTEmobile network.-VNA