Tuesday, September 10th, 2013
SEOUL, KOREA- Korean President Park Geun-hye on a state visit to Vietnam met on September 9 with Vietnamese President Truong Tan Sang at the presidential palace and adopted a joint statement to pursue a higher-level comprehensive free trade agreement by next year.
A spokesperson at Chongwadae, Korean presidential palace, said in a statement that the two leaders agreed to work together to strengthen economic ties for mutual prosperity.
According to the joint statement, the two governments will deepen the cooperative partnership signed in 2009. As a way to do so, they agreed to accelerate FTA talks, including holding two more rounds of negotiations before the year's end following the first talks in May.
In addition, the two presidents came to an understanding that Korea share its expertise in nuclear power plant building to foster the nuclear industry in Vietnam. The joint statement also expressed concerns about North Korean nuclear hostilities and made clear that North Korea's possession of nuclear weapons is out of the question.