Meeting with Ambassador of the Republic of Korea to Viet Nam
Ambassador Prof Saj U. Mendis paid a courtesy call to Her Excellency the Ambassador of the Republic of Korea to Viet Nam, H.E Oh Young Jo, to discuss issues of importance and relevance to both the countries in the context of Viet Nam. The congenial and informative meeting lasted approximately 45 minutes during which issues such as economic, commercial, trade, foreign direct investments, tourism and employment were discussed in detail.
Ambassador Mendis served as the Sri Lankan Envoy in Seoul from 2019 to 2021 and was well conversant with the economy, polity and history of South Korea. Ambassador Mendis enunciated to H.E Oh Young Jo that South Korea is today amongst the three largest foreign investors in Viet Nam. Both agreed that the largest corporate in South Korea i.e. Samsung has invested well over USD 25 billion in Viet Nam and three out of ten Samsung mobile phones are manufactured in Viet Nam. Both the Envoys discussed ways to increase bilateral trade, particularly exports from Sri Lanka to South Korea, between the two countries. Further, H.E Oh Young Jo too stated that today South Korea is the 5th largest exporter of goods and services in the world behind China, Germany, the US and Japan. Ambassador Mendis expressed sincere admiration and commendation to H.E Oh Young Jo particularly with regard to the rapid and unprecedented economic and commercial rise of South Korea within a space of just a single generation. He further expressed gratitude and appreciation to H.E Oh Young Jo for the assistance, cooperation and facilitation extended to Sri Lanka since 1990s including generous assistance with regard to infrastructure projects, employment, aid and grants, which played a critical role in the advancement and augmentation of the socio-economic sphere of Sri Lanka.
