The conference was glad to hear to the opening addresses of Prof. Dr. Nguyen Xuan Thang, President of VASS; Mr. Woosang Kim, President of Korea Foundation; Mr. Suk Soo Kim, Former Prime Minister of the Republic of Korea; Mr. Vu Khoan, Former Deputy Prime Minister of Vietnam; Mr. Ha Chan Ho, South Korean Ambassador to Vietnam; Mr. Vu Tien Loc, President of VCCI, President of the Vietnam – Korea Friendship Association.
The conference is one of the activities to celebrate the 20th anniversary of official establishment of diplomatic relations between Vietnam and South Korea, and promote co-operation in scientific research, training, and policy advice among research institutes in Vietnam and South Korea.
During these two decades, Vietnamese have been very impressed with South Korea not only by the story of “the miracle” on Hangang River and the presence of South Korean well-known trademarks in the Vietnamese market, but also by various kinds of culture from culinary arts to fashion, music, and other kinds of art… This demonstrates that Vietnamese have known about beautiful South Korea not only by economic aspects but also by social and cultural aspects.
There are many similarities in culture and history of South Korea and Vietnam: both are oriental countries with wet rice civilization and similar traditional customs; the two countries have won many invaders to maintain our own independence; have received, selected, and created quintessence of many different cultures to build up unique native culture.
In the context of globalization and international economic integration, South Korea and Vietnam have enormous potential that can complement each other in the process of cooperation and development. Moreover, South Korea-Vietnam cooperation can also be very powerful boosted by the political leadership of the two countries. Therefore, after 20 years, a period that is not long in comparison with the thousand-year history of the two nations, relations between Vietnam and South Korea have developed very rapidly in all fields: political-diplomatic, economic, cultural, social ..., and become a typical example of bilateral cooperation in the region.
The conference was divided into three sessions with six presentations of the scholars of the two countries. Session 1: "20 years of partnership between South Korea and Vietnam: Overview and vision for the future" by Mr. Vu Khoan - Chairman. Session 2: "Trade and investment within the framework of the South Korea – Vietnam Free Trade Agreement", by Professor Heo Yoon, Institute of International Relations, Sogang University - Chairman. Session 3: "The social and cultural Dialogue" by Associate Professor, Doctor Tran Duc Cuong, Deputy Chairman of the Scientific Council, Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences - Chairman.
The conference is an opportunity for politicians, scholars, and policy implementers of the two countries to exchange points of view, discuss the orientation, policy measures to further promote the partnership between the two countries, on the basis of achievements for 20 years, with a focus on sharing vision and knowledge in order to bring the comprehensive strategic partnership between Vietnam and South Korea to a new level in the next 20 years.
Nguyen Vu
