ASEAN, Republic of Korea reaffirm commitment for further cooperation

Participants at the 10th ASEAN-RoK Joint Cooperation Committee (JCC) meeting on March 16. ( Photo: asean.org)

Jakarta (VNA) – ASEAN and the Republic of Korea (RoK) have reaffirmed commitment to further advancing their partnership and enhancing cooperation, at the 10th ASEAN-RoK Joint Cooperation Committee (JCC) meeting.

At the March 16 meeting, co-chaired by Permanent Representative of Vietnam Nguyen Hai Bang and Ambassador of the RoK to ASEAN Kwon Hee-seog, the two sides recognised significant progress made in the ASEAN-ROK cooperation over the past year through a follow-up on the outcomes of the 23rd ASEAN-RoK Summit and the activities to implement various areas of cooperation under the ASEAN-ROK Plan of Action (2021-2025).

The two sides welcomed the ROK’s Indo-Pacific Strategy and the Korea-ASEAN Solidarity Initiative (KASI) that aim at substantially strengthening the ASEAN-RoK cooperation. Under KASI, the RoK will double the size of its annual contributions to the ASEAN-RoK Cooperation Fund by 2027 to support more projects and activities.

Both sides also agreed to strengthen cooperation in the four priority areas under the ASEAN Outlook in the Indo-Pacific (AOIP), noting the shared principles and objectives between the AOIP and the RoK’s Indo-Pacific Strategy.  

Participants also agreed to continue advancing cooperation in areas including trade and investment, digitalisation and innovation, energy, tourism, education, disaster management, environment and climate change, public health, smart cities, connectivity, culture and people-to-people exchanges, and capacity building./.