President Yoon Suk Yeol held bilateral talks with Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh on Friday on the sidelines of the Group of Seven summit in Hiroshima, Japan.
 
In the meeting, Yoon said that relations between the two countries achieved remarkable progress across all sectors over the past 30 years noting that Vietnam became South Korea's third-largest trading partner last year after China and the U.S.
 
Yoon said the eight thousand South Korean firms operating in Vietnam are an important foundation to close economic cooperation and proposed that the two sides communicate and cooperate even more closely following the elevation of their relationship to a comprehensive strategic partnership.
 
Yoon expressed hope of reaching the goal of 150 billion dollars in bilateral trade by the year 2030 while the prime minister expressed his wish that South Korea expand development assistance for Vietnam in areas such as finance, technology and human resources development.
 
Chinh also called for exchanges in digital and science sectors asserting that Vietnam considers South Korea a very important partner in its foreign policy and plans to pursue strategic coordination and cooperation with Seoul.
 
He also highly assessed South Korea's diplomatic initiatives including its Indo-Pacific Strategy and the Korea-ASEAN Solidarity Initiative saying they will contribute to regional and global peace and development.