Investment levels have now reached 25 billion USD; trade turnover between the two countries has increased from 490 million to 21.67 billion USD.

South Korean President Park Geun-hye will begin an official visit to Vietnam.Malefrom September 7-11. This will be Park Geun-hye's third official foreign trip since taking office as President in February 2013.

During this visit,TotalsystemParkGeun-hye will meet with senior Vietnamese leaders.Maleto discuss in depth how to enhance practical cooperation between the two countries.

With this visit, the leaders of the two countries hope to realize the strategic cooperative partnership and open a new vision for Vietnam-China relations.Male- Korea.

On this occasion, VTV reporter interviewed Mr. Jun Dae Joo, Korean Ambassador to Vietnam.Male.

** Reporter: Please tell us the significance of your visit to Vietnam.Malebelong toTotalsystemParkGeun-hye?

Ambassador Jun Dae Joo:South Korea is one of Vietnam's leading economic partners.MalePresident Park Geun-hye's choice of Vietnam as the third country for an official visit affirms that Vietnam is both a friend and an important partner of Korea.

Korea and VietnamMalehave many similarities in history, culture and sentiment. With the current marriage of citizens of the two countries, VietnamMale– Korea has developed into a relationship of friends and family. Currently, there are about 35,000 Vietnamese brides in Korea, which means there are about 35,000 Korean grooms in Vietnamese families.

Korean Ambassador to VietnamMale, Mr. Jun Dae Joo.

VietnameseMaleand Korea established diplomatic relations in 1992. Up to now, that relationship has been 20 years old, has been, is and will have strong developments. In recent times, the trade turnover between the two countries has increased 44 times (from 490 million to 21.67 billion USD), investment has also increased 250 times (from 100 million to 25 billion USD), annual human resource exchange has increased 80 times, from 10,000 to 808,000 people.

In just a short period of time, the relationship between the two countries has achieved amazing achievements, as the two sides have a very special and close relationship with each other.

** Reporter: As you said, the relationship between the two countries has been developing strongly. So, can you tell us the goals that the two countries are aiming for?

Ambassador Jun Dae Joo:Currently, negotiations on the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between the two countries are being actively implemented.

Since the announcement of the launch of bilateral FTA negotiations in August 2012, the two sides have had two more negotiation sessions in September 2012 and May 2013.

The two sides are also currently promoting preparations for the next round of negotiations, which is scheduled to take place in the second half of this year. The two countries are currently planning to conduct close negotiations in the future to achieve practical progress, and will complete the negotiations as soon as possible. Hopefully, after the two countries sign the FTA, trade and investment cooperation between Korea and Vietnam will be further enhanced.Malewill be increasingly solid and expanded in a mutually beneficial direction.

South Korea is Vietnam's fourth largest trading partner.Maleand VietnamMaleis the 9th largest export market of Korea. Bilateral trade turnover in 2012 reached 21.12 billion USD, 2 years earlier than the set target, 42 times higher than 500 million USD in 1992, up 18% compared to 2011, of which exports reached 5.58 billion USD, up 18%, imports reached 15.54 billion USD, up 17.9%.

Bilateral trade turnover in the first four months of 2013 reached 8.4 billion USD, of which exports reached 2.1 billion USD and imports reached 6.3 billion USD.

In 2012, VietnamMaleTrade deficit with South Korea was 9.95 billion USD, up 17% over the previous year; in the first 4 months of 2013, VietnamMaleTrade deficit with South Korea was 4.2 billion USD, up 45% over the same period last year.

Regarding ODA capital, Korea is the second largest ODA provider to Vietnam after Japan and Vietnam is the largest ODA recipient of Korea. Korea provided Vietnam with 70.14 million USD in 2010 and about more than 200 million USD in 2011. In 2011, Korea declared that it considered Vietnam as a key country and model for ODA provision and selected it as one of 26 countries belonging to the "ODA cooperation strategic partner" with 3 focuses: green growth, human resource training and infrastructure construction.

According to VOV - HV