(VOVworld) – Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister Vu Van Ninh has expressed his appreciation to visiting South Korean Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Choi Kyonglim for the results of a recent seminar on free trade agreement negotiations. Choi told his host at Wednesday’s reception that the FTA with Vietnam is a top priority of South Korea, who is striving to reach a two-way trade target of 25 billion USD by 2015.

The seminar was held the same day in Hanoi by Vietnam’s Ministry of Industry and Trade and South Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade to discuss the acceleration of the FTA negotiations. Vietnamese Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Cam Tu told participants that the FTA will make made-in-Vietnam products more competitive in South Korea and encourage exports to Korea and elsewhere. Tu said: Vietnam mainly imports fuel and raw materials from South Korea to feed the production of goods for export. It exports garments, wood furniture, and agro-products to South Korea. Vietnamese products accounted for 70% of South Korea’s import purchases in 2011.

Vietnamese Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Cam Tu at the seminar (Photo: CPV)

South Korea is currently Vietnam’s 4^th largest trade partner and Vietnam is Korea’s 8^th largest exporter. Formal FTA negotiations began in August.