South Korean passengers receive Mid-Autumn Festival gifts while leaving Da Nang on the 30th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Vietnam and South Korea, September 2022. Photo by VnExpress/Nguyen Dong
The Vietnam-Republic of Korea (RoK) Festival will be held in the central city of Da Nang from September 7 to 9, according to the municipal Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The festival, which will be jointly organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and other relevant departments and agencies as well as the Consulate General of the Republic of Korea in Da Nang, is expected to promote and deepen the friendship between the Vietnamese city and Korean localities .
It will feature traditional art performances staged by Korean artists, 60 stalls showcasing the culture, products, cuisines and folk games of the two countries, a culinary competition and a film screening.
Vietnam-Republic of Korea relations were upgraded to a comprehensive strategic partnership in 2022. The Republic of Korea now ranks first in terms of foreign direct investment (FDI) in Vietnam with 9,500 projects and a combined registered capital of over of 80 billion dollars.
The two countries are striving to increase their bilateral trade revenue to $100 billion this year and to $150 billion by 2030.
The Republic of Korea is also the second largest source of tourists to Vietnam. Other areas such as culture and sport have also contributed to bringing the people of the two countries closer together.
Da Nang notably established friendship and official cooperation with five Korean localities, namely Changwon (in 1997), Daegu (in 2004), Hwaseong (in 2008), Seoul (in 2016) and Jeju (in 2023), covering the areas of tourism, training, cultural exchanges and sharing of experiences in green transport and the construction of smart cities.
In the second quarter of this year, Da Nang attracted 268 Korean projects worth $362 million.
The city welcomed more than 1.8 million visitors from the Republic of Korea in 2019 before the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic.