On January 6, 2021, the People’s Committee of Binh Duong Province, Vietnam and Gangnam-gu District, Seoul, Republic of Korea, held an online MOU signing ceremony for “Strategic Cooperation Agreement to promote international trade activities and cultural exchange”. The MOU signing ceremony was witnessed by of leaders from Binh Duong Province and Gangnam-gu and held simultaneously in both countries online.

At the ceremony, Chairman of Binh Duong Provincial People’s Committee, Mr. Vo Van Minh said: “Today’s cooperation agreement signing ceremony is a vital milestone, creating the basis for strengthening the friendly & cooperation relationship, mutual understanding, towards the common development of both localities. This is also one of the most important events in a series of activities contributing to the flow of the Vietnam – Korea relationship, contributing to the strategic cooperative partnership between the two countries, which have strong development steps towards the 30th anniversary of the establishment of the diplomatic relation between Vietnam and Korea in 2022.”

Overview of the MOU Signing ceremony of Binh Duong and Gangnam-gu

At Binh Duong bridge point, there were participations of Mr. Nguyen Van Loi, Member of the CPV Central Committee, Secretary of Binh Duong Provincial Party Committee, Head of the provincial National Assembly Delegation,  Mr. Vo Van Minh , Chairman of Binh Duong People’s Committee,  Mr. Mai Hung Dung  Standing Vice Chairman of Binh Duong People’s Committee,  Mr. Wee Joon Soek , Deputy Consul General of Korea in Ho Chi Minh City,  Mr. Pham Ngoc Thuan  CEO Of Becamex IDC,  Mr. Kim Won Sik  – Chairman of Binh Duong Kocham,  Mr. Park Jin Ku  – Honorary Chairman of Binh Duong Kocham,  Mr. Lee Dong Won  – Chief Ref of KITA Vietnam,  Mr. Kim Kwan Mook  – Chief Ref of KOTRA Vietnam and other leaders of departments and companies in Binh Duong. At Gangnam bridge point, there were participations of  HE. Soon Kyun Jung  – Mayor of Gangnam, Ambassador of Vietnam to Korea  HE. Nguyen Vu Tung ,  Mr. Lee Dong-won  CEO of COEX,  Mr. Kim Hi Joo , Director of New Design Bureau, and  Mr. Kang Ho Dong,  Head of Becamex IDC Office in Korea.

Leaders of Binh Duong Province and Representatives of Korean associations in Vietnam

Gangnam-gu is the center of the Korean economy, where major Korean companies, as well as featured overseas company branches such as Google, MS, Apple, and Facebook, are located. The annual GRDP is about USD 55 billion, and it is also famous for the song ‘Gangnam Style’ by Korean singer PSY. Gangnam-gu has proposed to develop a corporative relationship with Binh Duong Province and plan to use this MOU as an opportunity to strengthen diplomatic relations with Vietnam and Southeast Asia and contribute to the exchange and spread of Korean culture. Gangnam-gu is active in attracting foreign tourists and promoting the region by holding various international events such as ‘Yeongdong-daero K-POP Concert, ‘IEF 2020 International e-sports Festival in Gangnam’, and ‘Medical Tourism Festa’ with the aim of leaping into a “Future Attractive City.”

Mr. Pham Ngoc Thuan, CEO Of Becamex IDC

Binh Duong Province is located in the Eastern part of the Southern region of Vietnam, in the heart of the Southern Key Economic Zone (including Ho Chi Minh City, Dong Nai, Binh Duong, Ba Ria – Vung Tau, Binh Phuoc, Tay Ninh, Long An, and Tien Giang Province). Binh Duong province is one of the provinces with a rapid economic growth rate and dynamic industrial development of Vietnam. Up to now, Binh Duong has more than 3000 FDI projects and there are 800 Korean enterprises among those FDI investors with attraction fields as electronic, electric, supporting industry, processing industry, medical equipment, food processing, garment & apparel.

Moment signing the MOU Signing ceremony of Binh Duong and Gangnam-gu

In 2020, Binh Duong Province has agreed on the direction of “Binh Duong Innovation Region” which is the central scheme in building a smart city for the next period. Binh Duong Innovation Region is the 5-layer model as urban planning and public transportation, creative innovation ecosystem, balanced economic development, digital transformation, and industrial development 4.0 and human resources development.

In addition, Binh Duong has gained many achievements in external relations with cities, international organizations, diplomatic corps, economic groups, and foreign one of the places that has positive activities in establishing relationships with the international cities. So far, Binh Duong province has established bilateral cooperation relationships with 10 foreign provinces and cities and is now an official member, reliable partner of 4 multilateral international cooperation organizations, namely the World Technopolis Association (WTA), the World Smart Community Forum (ICF), the Asia Economic Cooperation Forum (HORASIS) and the World Trade Center Association (WTCA).

Therefore, through this MOU with Gangnam-gu, Binh Duong province wishes to promote friendly relations and strengthen cooperation between both sides, and at the same time create opportunities to enhance activities through trade promoting and cultural exchange globally. Under the ‘Binh Duong Innovation Region‘ strategy, Binh Duong Province is setting the goal of balanced economic development with the strengthened percentage of service sectors of the local economy. World Trade Center Binh Duong New City (WTC Binh Duong New City) a subsidiary of BECAMEX IDC has become a critical component for service development (exhibition industry, commercial services) in Binh Duong Province. This shows all efforts to develop Binh Duong as the international trade hub and more MICE activities in the region. In the meantime, Gangnam-gu hopes to expand the promotion activities in Vietnam and other Southeast Asia and to strengthen the development of tourism and cultural industries. In addition, Gangnam-gu also expects to promote active economic exchanges through support for business matching programs and trade exhibitions for companies in both regions.

Mr. Mai Hung Dung, Standing Vice Chairman of Binh Duong People’s Committee

WTC Binh Duong New City has been organizing 16 online and hybrid webinars/international conferences with the participation of more than 7,000 domestic and foreign investors, corporates, and supporting hundreds of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) over the past 2 years. Under the COVID-19 situation, WTC Binh Duong New City has kept on many practical activities, such as collaboration with World Trade Center Mumbai to organize the virtual exhibition, authorized by the European Commission to be the local event organizer of EU Industry Week 2021 on Green Manufacturing Technologies, and the ‘Connecting Supply and Demand of goods in Binh Duong’ Confex (Conference+Exhibition), etc.

As a specific implementation plan of this MOU, the two parties will strengthen cooperation in the MICE(Meeting, Incentive Travel, Convention Exhibition), culture, and tourism industries including

• (1) Strengthening the ties and expanding business relations between business members of both parties;
• (2) Exchanging information and perspectives to enhance growth enablers through cooperation in the fields of trade, investment, culture, and tourism;
• (3) Supporting medical, cultural, and commercial exhibitions & conferences and K-POP festivals by the other Party in order to enhance and expand economic, cultural, and tourism cooperation;
• (4) Initiating projects of remote cooperation including online business meetings, webinars, and forums.

Through this cooperation, WTC Binh Duong New City created a steppingstone to leverage MICE activities in the industrial area and open the cooperation and experience exchange opportunities with investors and businesses worldwide.

Leaders of Binh Duong province and representatives of Korean associations in Vietnam at the MOU Signing ceremony

The MOU signing ceremony was accompanied by reported activities between Becamex IDC, the Trusted Industrial, and Urban Real Estate Developer in Vietnam, and COEX, the Korea leading MICE company located in Gangnam-gu. Becamex IDC and COEX signed the strategic cooperation for managing and operating the convention and exhibition centers (WTC EXPO, 22,000 sqm, scheduled to re-open in early 2022) and both sides will attract world-class conferences and exhibitions to Binh Duong Province and WTC Binh Duong New City.