Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport pledges cooperation with Vietnam on local urban development, railway construction, etc.

Dispatch of the public-private joint support team to Vietnam from the 15th to the 17th
Support from ODA, EDCF, etc., to form a Yanggu cooperation committee

Korea is lending its support to Vietnam’s large-scale projects, including urban development and railway construction.

Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Park Sang-woo visited Vietnam from the 15th to the 17th as the head of the Vietnam Public-Private Joint Support Team.

The visit was made to concretize the follow-up project of the Urban Development Cooperation Program (UGPP). The UGPP is a bilateral cooperation program that focuses on urban development in Vietnam through government-to-government (G2G) cooperation, and was concluded last year.

Through this cooperative system, we plan to support our companies in winning infrastructure projects, such as the construction of the Hanoi-Ho Chi Minh high-speed railway worth 57.3 billion dollars.

On the 16th, Minister Park signed an agreement with Minister of Construction Nguyen Thanh Nghi on the ‘Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on Urban and Housing Development’ and the ‘Implementation Plan for the Construction of Smart City and Social Housing’ to fully promote the development of the Bac Ninh Province Southeast New City in Vietnam. The development of the Bac Ninh Province Southeast New City is the first project of ‘urban export’ that is being promoted to change the paradigm of overseas construction orders to ‘added value, entry into industrial packages’.

The agreement includes the activation of public-private cooperation between the two countries for the implementation of the UGPP, exchanges on smart cities and social housing, support for policy funds such as Official Development Assistance (ODA) and Economic Development Cooperation Fund (EDCF), and the formation of a cooperation committee for the implementation of the agreement. Based on the agreement, the central government of Vietnam will prepare a plan for our companies to participate in urban development including the Bac Ninh Province Southeast New City and the construction of 1 million social housing units.

In a meeting with Nguyen Anh Tuan, Secretary of the Bac Ninh Party Committee, specific plans for Korea’s participation in the Bac Ninh Southeast New City were discussed. According to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, the Bac Ninh side requested that the Korea Land and Housing Corporation (LH) and others participate in the project and expedite the construction.

Minister Park also met with Deputy Minister of Transport Nguyen Xuan Sang to discuss the need to sign an MOU, including a plan to participate in Vietnam’s high-speed railway construction market worth 57.3 billion dollars.

In addition, the ‘Korea-Vietnam Innovation Forum’ explained the cooperation projects between the two countries and Korea’s smart city experience. About 200 Korean and Vietnamese business and government officials gathered at the event.

Minister Park said, “Through this business trip to Vietnam, the first step toward urban export, which is the goal of our overseas construction, has been taken,” and added, “We will provide government-level support so that we can make Vietnam’s Southeast New City a success using our own technology and take the lead in building Vietnam’s high-speed railway.”

Meanwhile, Minister Park gave a lecture on the merits of our smart city technology and development experience to about 200 students and academia at the Ho Chi Minh City University of Economics on the 15th. He emphasized the rapidly growing level of urban development in our country and various smart solutions based on information and communication technology (ICT). He also presented a blueprint for urban development in Vietnam.

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