The event was jointly held by the Hai Phong People’s Committee and the Korea International Trade Association (KITA), with the participation of nearly 200 delegates who are representatives from Korean agencies, organisations, businesses and investors.
In his remarks, Secretary of the Hai Phong Party Committee Le Tien Chau affirmed that the city is working to enhance its comprehensive cooperation with Korean partners, and calling for Korean investment in such areas as smart city and e-administration building, renewable energy, semiconductor component manufacturing, urban and infrastructure development, and construction of hospitals and schools.
Present at the conference, Vietnamese Ambassador to the RoK Nguyen Vu Tung stressed that Vietnam and the RoK are leading, reciprocal partners of each other in economy, trade, investment, labour and tourism.
He cited statistics as saying that the RoK has poured 81.5 billion USD into the Southeast Asian nation so far, of which nearly 10 billion USD has been injected into Hai Phong, mainly in electronics, auto parts and machinery.
Vietnam’s total export value to the RoK through ports in Hai Phong reached 12.3 billion USD last year, while the import revenue stood at 7.8 billion USD, the official continued.
The RoK now ranks first among 42 countries and territories investing in Hai Phong in terms of both quantity and quality of investment projects, he said, adding that the city is home to 14 operational industrial parks and the number is expected to increase by 13 by 2025.
Hai Phong will work harder to improve its investment environment, focus on infrastructure development, particularly in transport, and speed up the formation of new industrial parks, he pledged.
On this occasion, Hai Phong handed over investment licences to new Korean projects and projects permitted to adjust their existing capital with a combined capital of 230 million USD.
