1. Overview
President Park Geun-hye is scheduled to visit Saint Petersburg in Russia September 4-7 to attend the 8th G20 Summit to be held September 5-6. Following the visit to Russia, the President will make a state visit to Vietnam September 7-11 at the invitation of Vietnamese President Truong Tan Sang.
2. Schedule and expected agenda items
○ G20 St. Petersburg Summit
During the G20 Summit to be held under the theme "The Growth of the Global Economy and the Creation of Quality Jobs," President Park Geun-hye will attend key discussion sessions and a working dinner and luncheon. She will also exchange views with the leaders from around the world about pressing issues of the international economy and finance and put forward Korea's stance on these issues.
The official schedule of the Summit will begin with a welcoming event for the participating leaders on September 5. The leaders will discuss global economic growth and financial stability in the first discussion session, which will be followed by the working dinner to discuss sustainable development.
The second discussion session will be held on September 6 and will continue delving into the issues of jobs and investment. Other agenda items such as trade will be dealt with during the working luncheon. After that, all participating leaders will get together to adopt a summit communiqué, the outcome of the 2013 G20 Summit process.
○ State Visit to Vietnam
During the state visit to Vietnam, President Park Geun-hye will hold a summit with President Truong Tan Sang and attend a state dinner on September 9. The two leaders are expected to discuss a wide range of issues, including an evaluation of Korea-Vietnam relations and a future vision for mutual progress; the trust-building process on the Korean Peninsula and the Northeast Asian Peace and Cooperation Initiative; ways to advance mutually beneficial economic and cooperative ties by making use of the momentum that has made it possible to achieve US$20 billion in trade three years ahead of the target year; the enhancement of bilateral exchanges and cooperation in various areas such as politics, security, society, culture and the economy; and ways to work together on both regional and international stages.
President Park will also hold a series of meetings with top government and party officials of Vietnam, including General Secretary of the Communist Party Nguyen Phu Trong, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung and National Assembly Chairman Nguyen Sinh Hung. Through the meetings with them, the President is anticipated to establish friendly relations with Vietnam's top leadership on multiple levels and engage in in-depth discussions on how to promote substantive cooperation between the two countries in many different fields. In addition, President Park is scheduled to visit Ho Chi Minh City, which is home to approximately 1,800 Korean businesses and a large Korean community of some 70,000, and make a tour of local industrial sites.
In particular, with the visit this time as a starter, President Park will begin in earnest a refined sales diplomacy for the 21st century with Vietnam with the goals of helping each other and deepening mutual understanding from a long-term perspective. On top of this, the President is scheduled to meet with Korean residents in the country.
3. The Significance of the Visit and Expected Outcome
○ G20 Summit
The G20 Summit is the premier international economic forum attended by the heads of state and government of 20 leading countries and heads of international organizations. The upcoming Summit in St. Petersburg, Russia will become the first opportunity for President Park to engage in multilateral summit diplomacy.
It is expected that the participating leaders will proclaim their commitment to policy coordination among the G20 nations to respond to the negative ripple effects spawned by the reduction in quantitative easing as well as to maintain mid-term fiscal soundness and prevent offshore tax evasion, all of which are aimed at promoting sustainable and balanced growth of the global economy. In-depth discussions are also expected to take place on such issues as the creation of job opportunities, inclusive growth, investments and structural reform and sustainable growth.
At the upcoming Summit, the President will highlight the particular urgency of nations working together to help the global economy enter into a trajectory of sustainable growth by overcoming uncertainties. On top of this, at the request of the G20 presiding nation Russia, President Park will emphasize through her lead speech the importance of addressing low growth and high unemployment, one of the major talking points of the Summit. The President is also scheduled to set the direction of discussions on the employment issue within G20 and introduce Korea's policy to create job opportunities, including the goal of achieving an employment rate of 70 percent and a creative economy, thereby making active contributions to tackling common tasks facing the global economy.
To ensure that the G20 Development Agenda, which began at the initiative of Korea at the 2010 G20 Seoul Summit, is continuously and effectively implemented, President Park will reaffirm Korea's commitment to contributing to it. Among other things, the President will emphasize that it is necessary to enhance confidence in the G20 through the faithful implementation of what has been agreed upon at the previous summit meetings in order for the G20 to further develop.
Hosting the 2010 Seoul Summit gave Korea the opportunity to play a leading role within the G20 and helped boost its national status. As the chair country, Korea made an active contribution to addressing global economic issues; as a key middle power, it served the role of a bridge connecting developed and developing countries.
At the upcoming Summit, Korea will once again be working in various capacities, solidifying the global leadership it has demonstrated within the G20. It will also be carrying out sales diplomacy through bilateral summits with leaders of key countries.
○ State Visit to Vietnam
The selection of Vietnam as the third country after the United States and China that President Park will be visiting since her inauguration underscores the significance of ASEAN in the sales diplomacy efforts being carried out during the latter part of this year. Not only is ASEAN a key partner for Korea in economic cooperation, but it is also on the rise as a newly emerging economic bloc.
The upcoming state visit is anticipated as an opportunity to take Korea-Vietnam relations to the next level, building on the foundation of rapid progress that has been achieved over the 20 years since diplomatic ties were first established. With the adoption of a joint statement on substantiating the bilateral strategic cooperative partnership, the leaders of the two countries will be laying out a roadmap for pursuing win-win development in the interest of further upgraded relations.
In discussions on the economic sector, President Park will be focusing on issues of long-term importance such as the creation of a Korea-Vietnam FTA that brings benefits to both countries and the strengthening of cooperation in the nuclear energy sector as well as the industrial technology sector. The signing of an MOU on support for the establishment of the Vietnam-Korea Institute of Science and Technology Research (V-KIST) and various other agreements designed to boost progress in key areas like development cooperation is also expected to raise the level of bilateral cooperation.
In addition, the two heads of state will be working to expand mutual cooperation in future-oriented sectors such as climate change, energy, the environment and information and communications, in this way reinforcing their partnership for future growth. By cooperating to implement the strategies Vietnam has devised for its national development, the two sides will also be taking steps to bring greater happiness for the peoples of both countries.
The upcoming visit is expected to advance the strategic cooperative partnership established in 2009 and help set new shared targets that the two countries can work together to achieve, with mutually beneficial cooperation as their basis, over the next 20 years.
*Source: Cheong Wa Dae Official Website ( www. president. go.kr )
