Vietnam's Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh lauded South Korean investments for driving Vietnam's economic development.

Speaking at a business forum on Monday in Seoul, the prime minister highlighted Korea's position as the largest foreign investor in Vietnam.

"Korea is the largest investor among the 146 countries investing in Vietnam, with more than $87 billion in over 10,000 projects. We highly value the contribution of Korean companies to Vietnam’s economic and social development," Chinh highlighted in his keynote speech.

He encouraged further Korean investments in high-tech sectors, including electronics, semiconductors, infrastructure, renewable energy, biotechnology and professional training.

"The Vietnamese government is encouraging Korean companies to expand investment in these areas so that future trade between the two countries can exceed $100 billion," Chinh said.

He also promised efforts to streamline administrative procedures and improve regulations to facilitate business operations.

Vietnam's Permanent Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Nguyen Minh Vu echoed the prime minister's sentiments, noting Korea's substantial contribution to Vietnam's foreign direct investment.

"Korea has invested a total of $87 billion, accounting for 18 percent of the total FDI in Vietnam, with approximately 10,000 operational projects making up 25 percent of all FDI projects in the country," Vu told The Korea Herald.

Vu applauded the growth in labor cooperation and tourism exchanges between the two countries.

"Korea has increased the quota for Vietnamese laborers to visit under the Employment Permit System by 13 percent in 2024 compared to last year," he said, noting growth in labor cooperation.

"Tourism cooperation has seen an outstanding recovery, with over 4 million tourist entries between the two countries, making Korea Vietnam’s largest tourist market. In the first four months of 2024 alone, Korea accounted for 1.6 million tourist entries, representing 25.8 percent of all international tourist entries into Vietnam," he said, citing tourism exchange data.

Meanwhile, he also underlined Vietnam and Korea's ambitious target of $150 billion in bilateral trade by 2030, citing the Vietnam-Korea free trade agreement, the Framework Agreement on Comprehensive Economic Partnership between the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and Korea and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership as key drivers to achieve the target.