President of the Republic of Korea Moon Jae-in. (Photo: Reuters) Hanoi (VNA) – President of the Republic of Korea MoonJae-in on November 20 called for greater efforts to further enhance the country’srelations with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
"ASEAN is alreadythe world's second-largest market for us after China," the President saidin a weekly Cabinet meeting at his office in Seoul. It represents the regionmost frequently visited by Korean people and the first passage through whichthe Korean cultural wave, or Hallyu, spreads, he added.
Moon noted the country'strade with the 10-member ASEAN spiked 25 percent year-on-year in 2017 comparedto the previous year. “Vietnam alone has a population of 100 million with aneconomic growth rate of 7 percent.”
He highlighted the need to work withthe Asian neighbours. He said ASEAN, India and Australia have expressed their supportfor the New Southern Policy that seeks to promote peace and co-prosperity, sothe RoK must take special interest and efforts in the relationship with thosecountries.
Under the New Southern Policy, Seoulseeks to boost the country's bilateral trade with ASEAN countries to more than 200billion USD in 2020. Moon and the heads of the 10 ASEAN nations have alsoagreed to make concerted efforts to increase the number of visitors between thetwo sides to over 15 million by 2020.
Moon’s statements came after he made a four-day trip to Singapore lastweek for the 33rd ASEAN Summit.
Seoul plans to host a special RoK – ASEANsummit in 2019, which marks the 30th anniversary of relations between the twosides.
President Moon Jae-in ordered thegovernment to immediately begin preparations for the summit by launching apan-government committee for this work.
“It will not only be the firstregional summit to be held in the RoK since the launch of our administrationbut also be an opportunity to further expand the countries' economiccooperation and people exchange," he said.
The RoK earned 82.32 billion USD from exports to ASEANnations in the first ten months of 2018, an increase of 4.7 percent year onyear, according to Yonhap news agency. Trade between the two sides stood at132.1 billion USD over the period, and is likely to exceed 150 billion USD thisyear.
Last year, 7.5 million Korean tourists, or one third of thetotal Koreans travelling abroad, visited the 10 ASEAN member countries.
The RoK has sought stronger economic relationswith ASEAN under Moon's "New Southern Policy" to reduce its heavyreliance on trade with the United States and China, and foster new growthdrivers. –VNA
VNA
