President Lee Myung-bak attended the fifth East Asia Summit on Saturday, or his last day in Hanoi, Vietnam.

At the summit, Lee talked about ways for the member countries of the East Asia Summit to cooperate on key global issues, including economic recovery, sustainable growth and climate change. Lee also reviewed the achievements made by the East Asia Summit since it was founded five years ago and shared opinions with other leaders on how to advance the gathering.

In particular, Lee held talks with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and reaffirmed close bilateral cooperation toward Seoul’s efforts to successfully host the G20 summit and develop the South Korea-U.S. alliance. Lee and Clinton also vowed to work closely on the ratification of their countries’ bilateral free trade agreement.

Ahead of the East Asia Summit, Lee met with Vietnamese President Nguyen Minh Triet and thanked Vietnam for supporting South Korea in dealing with the sinking of the Cheonan naval ship. Lee also said he hopes South Korea and Vietnam will further expand bilateral cooperation in the international arena.

In response, Triet said that South Korea is Vietnam’s biggest investor and bilateral trade is expanding fast. He said he hopes South Korea will continue to make investments in his country, citing that demand is rising for investment in the area of social infrastructure.

The East Asia Summit comprises the ten member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations as well as South Korea, China, Japan, Australia, New Zealand and India. This year, the United States and Russia joined the gathering.