1. Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Lee Taeho will visit Viet Nam on December 3-5 at the invitation of the Vietnamese government, during which he will attend the 8th Mekong-Korea Business Forum and have meetings with high-level officials of Viet Nam.

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° The Mekong-Korea Business Forum is a private-public cooperation forum participated by representatives of private companies and government officials of Korea and five Mekong countries -- Laos, Myanmar, Viet Nam, Cambodia and Thailand -- that has been held on an annual basis since 2013. This year’s Forum, co-organized by the Korea International Trade Association (KITA) and the Viet Nam Chamber of Commerce and Industry, will take place in a hybrid (online and offline) format under the theme of “Business in the New Normal: Turning Vulnerability into Resilience.”

° The Korean government plans to dispatch a private-public joint delegation, led by Vice Minister Lee and composed of representatives from public organizations and enterprises, including KITA, to the Forum, where they and other delegates from both governments and businesses of the five Mekong countries will mainly discuss challenges facing small- and medium-sized enterprises and small business owners amid the COVID-19 situation as well as how the Mekong-Korea cooperation can contribute to overcoming these challenges.

2. Vice Minister Lee’s visit is part of actively ongoing high-level exchanges between the two countries following the official visit to Viet Nam by Minister of Foreign Affairs Kang, Kyung-wha in September. It is expected to serve as a good opportunity to discuss ways for private-public cooperation in strengthening the Mekong-Korea cooperation and key issues between Korea and Viet Nam, including a special entry procedure.