Korea and Vietnam agreed to further broaden their cooperation in areas such as Smart City and intelligent transportation systems (ITS).
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said on the 27th that Minister Kim Yun-duk held a meeting on the 26th with Tran Hong Minh, Vietnam's Minister of Construction, at the National Land Development Exhibition Hall in Jung-gu, Seoul.
At the meeting, the Minister asked for cooperation so that domestic corporations can participate in the feasibility study process for Vietnam's North–South high-speed rail project and discussed ways to expand advanced urban and transport systems.
Beginning with a ministerial-level meeting on the 22nd, the two countries have been increasing tangible outcomes of cooperation, including holding the first railway cooperation meeting. The Minister emphasized Korea's accumulated capabilities in high-speed rail design, construction, and operation gained in the process of securing its own technology, and conveyed that Korea hopes domestic corporations and public institutions can contribute from the initial survey stage of Vietnam's North–South high-speed rail.
The Minister also said, "Korea has developed Smart City in the process of responding to urban growth and changing transport demand," adding, "Through programs such as the K-City Network cooperation project, we hope Korea's policy experience will help support the rapidly growing urban and transport sectors in Vietnam."
In addition, the Minister introduced the "infrastructure development policy capacity-building master's program," which Vietnam has shown interest in, and added that Korea expects to expand people-to-people exchanges between the two countries. The K-City Network is a project that applies a Korea-style smart city model to overseas cities based on intergovernmental cooperation. It supports Smart City master planning and overseas demonstrations of domestic smart solutions.
In response, Minister Tran Hong Minh evaluated positively the experience of observing Korea's advanced transport and urban sites and expressed strong interest. He added that, due to Vietnam's administrative district reorganization, the demand for infrastructure expansion is increasing by the day, and conveyed that Vietnam welcomes active market participation by Korean corporations. He also said Vietnam hopes to broaden cooperation not only to high-speed rail but to urban rail across the board.
Vietnam is Korea's No. 3 trading partner and the largest overseas construction market in the ASEAN region, and domestic corporations are already actively participating in various areas, including the creation of the Dong Nam New Town and the supply of subway trains to Ho Chi Minh City.
Meanwhile, using this meeting as an opportunity, the two countries agreed to hold the "1st Korea–Vietnam Infrastructure and Technology Cooperation Committee" at the end of this year to create a regular forum for exchanges in infrastructure fields such as urban development and railways, and to continue concrete discussions on key cooperation agendas.