South Korea, Vietnam leaders to meet as Hanoi seeks high-tech investment

Vietnam's leader To Lam will host South Korean President Lee Jae Myung on Wednesday, marking their second meeting in less than a year, as Hanoi seeks more support for its high-tech ambitions from its top investor.



Lee, who last met with Lam in August, is in Hanoi with a large business delegation after visiting India and is scheduled to have two days of meetings.



At least a dozen government cooperation agreements are planned and a goal to boost bilateral trade flows to $150 billion by 2030 is likely to be reaffirmed.

Trade rose 9.6% last year to $89.5 billion, according to the Vietnamese government.



Seoul intends to "expand cooperation in strategic areas such as nuclear power plants, infrastructure, scientific and technological innovation, and to further cooperate on global issues such as supply chain stability, sustainable growth, and climate change response," Lee told representatives of the Korean community in Vietnam.



For its part, Vietnam, a major exporter of phones and other electronic goods, is keen to pivot to more sophisticated technologies. Ahead of the visit, Vietnam's Ambassador to South Korea, Vu Ho, was quoted as saying by local media that bilateral cooperation should focus on areas such as semiconductors and artificial intelligence.