South Korea, Vietnam to join hands for energy, nuclear power cooperation

Seoul, Aug 11 (IANS) South Korea and Vietnam will work to expand bilateral cooperation in the energy industry, including renewable energy and nuclear power, as the two countries aim to bolster ties in trade, security and other sectors, Seoul officials said Monday.

The countries' industry ministries signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to develop joint projects in the renewable energy sector, such as solar power, wind power and energy storage systems, according to Seoul's Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.

Seoul's state-run Korea Electric Power Corp. and Vietnam's state-owned energy firm Petrovietnam (PVN) also signed an MOU to foster a workforce for the nuclear power industry in the Southeast Asian nation, which plans to build four nuclear reactors by 2035.

The MOUs were signed following a summit between South Korean President Lee Jae Myung and Vietnam's top leader To Lam in Seoul.

At the summit, the two leaders agreed to deepen their countries' Comprehensive Strategic Partnership established three years ago, covering areas such as trade, security, science and technology, and people-to-people exchanges, while vowing to step up efforts to boost their bilateral trade volume to $150 billion by 2030.

Ahead of the summit, Korean Industry Minister Kim Jung-kwan also held a bilateral meeting with his Vietnamese counterpart, Nguyen Hong Dien, and agreed to expand supply chain cooperation, according to Kim's office.

Under the agreement, Seoul will launch a five-year official development assistance (ODA) programme to establish a critical mineral supply chain technology cooperation center in Vietnam, Yonhap news agency reported.

The Korean government will invest a combined 16.6 billion won ($12 million) to procure equipment for smelting critical minerals in Vietnam, provide technical guidance and support human resource development.

Vietnam currently holds the world's sixth-largest rare earth reserve, the third-largest reserve of bauxite, the fourth-largest tungsten reserve and the seventh-largest graphite reserve.

--IANS

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