RoK President Moon Jae-in and Brunei Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah inspect guard of honour (Source: yonhap) Hanoi (VNA) – The Republic of Korea (RoK) and Brunei have agreed to strengthenbilateral cooperation as well as the former’s relations with the Association ofSoutheast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
The consensus was reached during talks between visiting RoK President MoonJae-in and Brunei Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah on March 11.
A press release from the Presidential Office Cheong Wa Dae stated that duringthe talks, Moon stressed that Brunei is an important partner of the RoK in itsNew Southern Policy.
The two leaders affirmed that the countries have steadily developed theirfriendly relations in the infrastructure and energy sectors over the past 35years since they established diplomatic ties.
The two sides spoke highly of RoK businesses’ engagement in infrastructureprojects in Brunei, saying such projects have made great contributions to theSoutheast Asian nation’s economic development. They also agreed to continue cooperationfor mutual development in the time to come.
The leaders held that over the past time, the two countries have stepped up collaborationin energy – a key industry of Brunei.
They consented to continue their support for businesses to further expand cooperationin building a LNG value chain spanning from gas mine development andtransportation to sales.
The RoK imports over 1 million tonnes or about 4.3 percent of its LNG supplyfrom Brunei annually.
Moon and Bolkiah also agreed to work together to promote bilateral cooperationin areas of intellectual property and science-technology while also increasing thecountries' joint efforts to create new growth engines, according to the pressrelease.
To help expand the number of visitors between the two countries, theleaders agreed to seek an increase in the number of direct flights.
President Moon arrived in Brunei on March 10. Brunei is the first leg of histour of three Southeast Asian countries, including Malaysia and Cambodia, toconsolidate his commitment to further enhancing the relations between the RoKand ASEAN.-VNA
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