South Korea has become Vietnam’s largest foreign investor, Vietnamese Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen The Phuong said at a bilateral investment conference in Hanoi on Tuesday.

The East Asian country currently has 4,459 projects in Vietnam, with a total registered capital of US$39.16 billion, Phuong said at the Vietnam-Korea Investment Forum, jointly held by his ministry and the ASEAN-Korea Center (AKC).

The conference was attended by high-profile guests including South Korean Ambassador to Vietnam Jun Dae Joo and AKC general secretary Kim Young Sun, the Vietnamese ministry said on its website.

More than 240 South Korean projects, with a total registered investment of $16 billion, are in the electronics industry, greatly contributing to the Southeast Asian country’s economic growth and trade-balance stability, Deputy Minister Phuong said.

Vietnam and South Korea established diplomatic ties in 1992, and saw bilateral trade value top $30 billion in 2014, 30 times higher than the initial stage, according to the Vietnamese Ministry of Planning and Investment.

The two countries are targeting to increase trade value to $70 billion in 2020.

There are now more than 4,400 South Korean businesses operating in Vietnam, mostly in footwear, apparel and light industries.

“Vietnam is committed to improving its market economy institutions, developing human resources and building infrastructure to continue attracting South Korean businesses,” Deputy Minister Phuong said.

Ambassador Jun also hailed the strong economic ties between the two countries, besides cooperation in social and cultural development.

Vietnam is the fourth largest outbound market of South Korea, behind the U.S., China and Hong Kong, newswire The Saigon Times Online quoted Do Nhat Hoang, head of the Vietnamese Foreign Investment Agency, as saying at the conference.

Local businesses currently run 24 projects in the East Asian country, with a total registered capital of more than $10 million.

In early May 2015, Vietnam and South Korea signed a free trade agreement following eight rounds of talks, after negotiations were kick-started in August 2012.

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