Vietnam’s new leadership hosts first state banquet since taking office
Cooperation expected on energy supply and supply chains
Top Korean business leaders including Lee Jae-yong, Chey Tae-won and Koo Kwang-mo to attend
Cooperation expected on energy supply and supply chains
Top Korean business leaders including Lee Jae-yong, Chey Tae-won and Koo Kwang-mo to attend
President Lee Jae-myung arrived in Vietnam on the 21st (local time) after concluding a two-night, three-day state visit to India. The Blue House (South Korea’s presidential office) said Seoul will support efforts to reach $150 billion in bilateral trade by 2030 and will lay the groundwork to strengthen cooperation on nuclear power and infrastructure. The trip carries symbolic weight as the first state-level visit since Vietnam’s new leadership took office. On the 22nd, the president will hold a summit with the Communist Party general secretary, who also serves as state president, and will take part in an official welcome ceremony, exchange memorandums of understanding (MOUs), issue a joint press statement and attend a state banquet. On the 23rd, he will meet and have lunch with the country’s No. 2, Prime Minister Le Minh Hung, and No. 3, National Assembly Speaker Tran Thanh Man. The general secretary assumed the party post in August 2024, secured reappointment at this year’s January party congress, and last month was confirmed by the National Assembly to also serve as state president.
Officials expect the summit to center on the shared goal of reaching $150 billion in bilateral trade by 2030. The Blue House said expanded access for Korean pharmaceutical products into the Vietnamese market could boost exports by about 100 billion KRW annually (approximately $75 million), and that an agreement resolving heat-treated poultry quarantine issues opens the door to Vietnam’s $11 billion meat market.
The two countries also plan to broaden cooperation in semiconductors, electronic components, artificial intelligence (AI) and science and technology, and to deepen collaboration on energy transition, critical minerals, infrastructure and nuclear energy. In particular, Vietnam’s large-scale infrastructure projects — a new city in Southeast Zone 1 budgeted at 1.1 trillion KRW (approximately $825 million) and a new airport project at 102.7 billion KRW (approximately $77 million) — along with planned power expansion, are expected to create new opportunities for Korean firms.
The presidential delegation is expected to include top business leaders: Chey Tae-won, chairman of SK Group and head of the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry; Lee Jae-yong, chairman of Samsung Electronics; Chung Eui-sun, chairman of Hyundai Motor Group; Koo Kwang-mo, chairman of LG Group; Chung Ki-sun, chairman of HD Hyundai; and Cho Hyun-joon, chairman of Hyosung Group.
Wi Seong-lak, director of the National Security Office, said at a pre-departure briefing that Seoul will “deepen strategic economic cooperation” and expand people-to-people exchanges to strengthen the foundations supporting roughly 4.5 million visitors, 200,000 overseas Koreans and 100,000 Korean–Vietnamese multicultural households.
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