President Lee Meets Korean and Vietnamese Business Leaders: "Strengthening Supply Chain Connectivity for Rare Earth Elements and Urea Solution Is Crucial"

Attendance at the Korea-Vietnam Business Forum Pre-Meeting

Lee Stresses, "The Optimal Partners to Overcome Rising Global Uncertainty Together"

Reiterates the Goal of $150 Billion in Trade by 2030

Business Leaders Including Tae-won Che

On the 23rd (local time), President Lee Jae-myung stated that South Korea and Vietnam are the optimal partners to overcome the crisis caused by increasing uncertainties in the global economy together. In particular, President Lee emphasized the need to boldly expand the scope of cooperation into high-tech industries, stressing that it is extremely important to strengthen supply chain connections in the energy and resource sectors, such as rare earths and urea solution, to achieve this.

President Lee Jae-myung is speaking at the pre-discussion meeting of the Korea-Vietnam Business Forum held at a hotel in Hanoi on the 23rd (local time). Photo by Yonhap News Agency

At the pre-meeting of the Korea-Vietnam Business Forum held in Hanoi that day, President Lee said, "Vietnam is a global manufacturing hub with excellent production capabilities and abundant resources. If these strengths are combined with Korea's advanced science and industrial technology, we will be able to jointly build the future industrial ecosystem."

He continued, "Based on our mutually complementary cooperative relationship, we have achieved a result of 94.6 billion dollars through the efforts of businesspeople to create synergy for future growth engines. If we expand the scope of trade and investment, we will be able to fully achieve the new goal of 150 billion dollars in trade volume by 2030."

President Lee particularly emphasized the advancement of manufacturing cooperation. He said, "We must strengthen manufacturing cooperation and boldly expand the scope of collaboration into high-tech sectors such as semiconductors and electric vehicles. It is also a very important task to strengthen supply chain connections in the energy and resource sectors, including rare earths and urea solution, which are essential for high-tech industries."

Energy infrastructure cooperation was also presented as a key agenda. President Lee stated, "We need to build a solid cooperative system so that both countries' economies are not shaken by external crises," adding, "To support Vietnam's stable industrial environment, it is necessary to establish high-efficiency power infrastructure such as liquefied natural gas (LNG) power plants and nuclear power plants."

President Lee also said, "You, the business leaders gathered here today, are the cornerstone of economic cooperation between the two countries," and requested, "I hope we can open up new horizons of cooperation together."

The pre-meeting was attended by Chey Tae-won, Chairman of SK Group and the Korean Chamber of Commerce and Industry; Lee Jae-yong, Chairman of Samsung Electronics; Koo Kwang-mo, Chairman of LG Group; Shin Dong-bin, Chairman of Lotte Group; Jang In-hwa, Chairman of POSCO Holdings; Chung Ki-sun, Chairman of HD Hyundai; Huh Tae-soo, Chairman of GS Group; Sohn Kyung-shik, Chairman of CJ Group; Cho Hyun-joon, Chairman of Hyosung Group; Park Ji-won, Chairman of Doosan Enerbility; Jung Won-ju, Chairman of Daewoo Engineering & Construction; Kim Sung, President of Hyundai Motor Group; and Choi Soo-yeon, CEO of Naver, among others.

President Lee Jae-myung and Vietnamese Prime Minister Le Minh Hung are taking a commemorative photo with businesspeople from both countries at a pre-meeting of the Korea-Vietnam Business Forum held at a hotel in Hanoi on the 23rd (local time). Photo by Yonhap News

Business leaders also expressed high expectations. When asked by reporters about his impressions of the visit, Chairman Lee said, "A businessperson speaks through results." Chairman Koo commented, "There is a great deal of exchange between the two countries, and business expansion is very active in Vietnam. I hope this opportunity will lead to qualitative as well as quantitative development." Chairman Park stated, "Since we are now building a nuclear power plant in Vietnam, I plan to focus my remarks at today's forum on our achievements so far."

Earlier, Vietnamese Prime Minister Le Minh Hung, in his welcome speech, asked for increased investment, technology transfer, and strengthened supply chain connectivity from Korean companies. He said, "Today, the relationship between Korea and Vietnam is advancing beyond trade and investment into a higher, more strategic, and comprehensive stage. Please expand qualitative and in-depth investment in high value-added fields such as advanced technology, semiconductors, artificial intelligence, and clean energy." He also requested, "Please actively cooperate in creating an R&D ecosystem in Vietnam," and emphasized, "We will boldly reform administrative procedures to establish a transparent and predictable investment environment."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.