Korea, Vietnam sign deal on railway cooperation: transport ministry

Transport Minister Park Sang-woo, second from right, poses with his Vietnamese counterpart, Tran Hong Minh, after signing a memorandum of understanding on railway cooperation between the two countries during an event held in Hanoi on Monday. Yonhap

South Korea will share its railroad construction technologies and experience with Vietnam as part of bilateral railway cooperation with the Southeast Asian nation, Seoul's transport ministry said Monday.

At a joint forum on the railway industry in Hanoi, the two countries signed a memorandum of understanding for cooperation ranging from devising railroad construction projects to maintenance, according to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.

A South Korean delegation of railroad businesses, led by Transport Minister Park Sang-woo, has been on a visit to Vietnam since Friday to discuss Seoul's potential participation in the Southeast Asian country's high-speed train railway construction project.

The so-called North-South high-speed rail project, estimated at 95 trillion won (US$64.4 billion), was approved by Vietnam's parliament in November with an aim to connect major industrial cities of Vietnam, including Hanoi, Da Nang and Ho Chi Minh City.

During the ongoing visit, Park met with Vietnamese Construction Minister Tran Hong Minh and discussed Korean companies' possible participation in the project.

"Vietnam's North-South high-speed rail construction project in Vietnam is a large-scale initiative where companies can win package deals from signaling, communications, power systems, and vehicle supplies to operations and maintenance, and professional workforce development," Park said, vowing to expand cooperation with Vietnam in the area. (Yonhap)