S. Korea among important economic partners of Vietnam: top legislator

South Korea is one of Vietnam's top important economic partners, said Nguyen Sinh Hung, Vietnamese National Assembly (NA) chairman, in Hanoi on Wednesday during a talk with his S. Korean counterpart Chung Ui-hwa who is paying an official visit to Vietnam.

South Korea ranks first in foreign direct investment (FDI) contribution to Vietnam, second in official development assistance (ODA) as well as tourism, and third in trade cooperation with Vietnam, Hung said.

Highlighting the conclusion of negotiations of Vietnam-South Korea Free Trade Agreement (FTA), Hung said he is delighted that two sides target a bilateral trade revenue of 70 billion U.S. dollars by 2020.

Hung expected support of Chung and South Korean NA to extend the current limited memorandum of understanding (MoU) on labor cooperation between the two countries soon and sign a normal MoU on the same issue.

Vietnamese NA is always willing to work closely with South Korean NA in order to strengthen the two countries' strategic partnership, Vietnam's state-run news agency VNA quoted Hung as saying on Wednesday.

Chung, for his part, urged for increasing efficiency of cooperation between the two NAs to better meet the two peoples' wishes.

South Korean and Vietnamese people have many things in common in terms of culture. The number of Vietnamese citizens living in South Korea and South Koreans living in Vietnam has been increasing, which are important forces to maintain and boost multi- faceted cooperation between the two countries, Chung added. Endi