Increasing presence of Vietnamese goods, traders in RoK benefits both sides: minister

Vietnamese Ambassador to the RoK Vu Ho (second from right), the RoK’s Minister of SMEs and Startups Oh Young-joo (centre), and other guests during their visit to the Kyungdong market in Seul on September 13. (Photo: VNA)

Seoul – Vietnamese Ambassador to the Republic of Korea (RoK) Vu Ho joined the RoK’s Minister of Small- and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) and Startups Oh Young-joo and German Ambassador Wilfried Schmidt in a visit to Kyungdong, a traditional market in downtown Seoul, on September 13.

Kyungdong is the largest general and herbal medicine market in the RoK. Many Vietnamese people are also doing business here.

During the tour, held one day ahead of the Chuseok (mid-autumn) holiday – the largest festival in the RoK, Minister Oh introduced the traditional market model of her country and events held during the holiday.

She said that this year, the national consumption festival, called the September Donghaeng Festival, is held abroad for the first time to introduce outstanding products of Korean SMEs. It opened in Hanoi in late August.

The official expressed her hope that cooperation efforts by Vietnam and Germany, which are important economic partners of the RoK, will help promote economic development in the three countries in the future.

The RoK is stepping up the export of Made-in-Korea products to foreign markets, including Vietnam.

Oh told the Vietnam News Agency that the increasing presence of Vietnamese goods in the RoK as well as Vietnamese traders in local traditional markets is good for both sides. Therefore, authorities of the RoK are working hard to promote this.

The Government of the RoK is also actively coordinating to handle procedures so that livestock products from Vietnam can enter its market, she noted, adding that the two sides recently completed procedures for importing Vietnamese pomelo.

However, the import of seafood, livestock, vegetables, and fruit needs to comply with stringent quarantine regulations, so policy cooperation is necessary for more quality products of Vietnam to access the Korean market, the minister said./.