Vietnam + reported on December 22 that the Trade Promotion Bureau of Vietnam's Ministry of industry and trade, together with Vietnam Textile Association (vitas), Vietnam leather, footwear and handbag Association (Lefaso), Korea trade and investment revitalization commune (KOTRA), South Korean clothing association and relevant departments recently jointly held an online docking meeting between Vietnam and South Korea's textile, clothing and leather shoes industry. It aims to provide the latest information on the cooperation between Vietnam and South Korea in the field of textile and garment, and introduce the import and export potential and investment demand of Vietnamese and Korean enterprises.

Li Huangcai, deputy director of the Trade Promotion Bureau, said that at present, South Korea is an important economic partner of Vietnam. In 2020, South Korea is the largest source of foreign investment and Vietnam's third largest trade partner. In the first 10 months of 2021, the bilateral trade volume of the two countries reached 63 billion US dollars, with a year-on-year increase of 17.6%. Among them, Vietnam's export to South Korea was $17.9 billion, with a year-on-year increase of 11.5%, and the import from South Korea was $45.1 billion, an increase of 20.2%.

Li Huangcai hopes that through this activity, we can explore and understand the cooperation needs, capabilities and business opportunities between Vietnamese and Korean enterprises, so as to build a sustainable and effective production value chain of Vietnamese and Korean textile, garment and leather products. We will help to achieve the goal of reaching 100 billion US dollars in bilateral trade between Vietnam and South Korea by 2023.

South Korea is the largest source of investment in Vietnam's textile and clothing industry, according to the representative of KOTRA in Vietnam. From 1989 to 2019, 464 Korean textile and garment enterprises invested in Vietnam, accounting for 25% of Vietnam's total FDI. Among them, Vietnam is the second largest trade partner of South Korea in the field of textile and clothing, and also the largest foreign investment destination of South Korea.