RoK to set up special committee on relations with ASEAN

The Republic of Korea will soon establish a new specialised committee on improving the country’s economic and diplomatic relations with India and ASEAN. (Photo: customstoday.com.pk)

Seoul (VNA) – The Republic of Korea (RoK) will soon establish a new specialised committee on improving the country’s economic and diplomatic relations with India and 10 member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the Presidential Office said on July 25.

The New Southern Economic Committee will likely be headed by Kim Hyun-chul, a special economic adviser to President Moon Jae-in.

The Presidential Office plans to establish the New Southern Economic Committee as a special committee within the Presidential Commission on Policy Planning, the office’s spokesman Kim Eui-kyeom told reporters.

ASEAN connection is at the centre of the New Southern Policy, one of President Moon’s two key foreign policies that seek to greatly improve Seoul’s relations with its Asian neighbours.

The RoK President has pledged to upgrade the country’s ties with India  and the 10 ASEAN member countries to the level of its ties with its largest ally, the United States, and other global powers such as China, Japan and Russia.

The 10 member states of ASEAN already make up the world’s second-largest importer of Korean products after China.

President Moon has vowed to make efforts to nearly double his country’s trade with the ASEAN countries to 200 billion USD a year by 2020.

The ASEAN consists of Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.–VNA