President of the Republic of Korea (RoK), Lee Myung-bak, has pledged to expand its development assistance to Southeast Asia, an increasingly important region of dynamic economies.

Lee made the commitment during the 10-nation ASEAN summits with its partners in Cambodian capital city Phnom Penh, saying that his country will work towards co-prosperity with the region, according to news reaching here on November 19.

RoK will exercise its strength in information and communication technology to help facilitate economic growth and enhance intra-regional connectivity to narrow the development gap, the RoK President was quoted as saying.

The two sides committed to raise two-way trade to 150 billion USD by 2015 from the all-time high of 124.9 billion USD recorded in 2011. They also agreed to beef up cooperation in the areas of green growth and climate change.

With a combined population of 600 million and a GDP of 2.15 trillion USD, ASEAN has emerged as an increasingly important entity to the RoK.

In recent years, RoK has stepped up its cooperation with ASEAN, including a free trade pact signed in 2009, the establishment of a strategic partnership and the establishment of RoK's diplomatic mission to ASEAN in 2010./.