President of the Republic of Korea (RoK) Lee Myung-bak and Surin Pitsuwan, secretary-general of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) have agreed to support the expansion of economic and diplomatic ties between the two sides.
The agreement came after the meeting of RoK President Lee and ASEAN Secretary-General Surin Pitsuwan in the RoK’s southern resort island of Jeju, while a special summit to mark the 20th anniversary of establishing a dialogue partnership is scheduled to be held on June 1-2 in the scenic island.
President Lee and ASEAN Secretary-General Surin Pitsuwan noted on May 31 that the RoK-ASEAN relations continuously improved over the 20 years since the dialogue partnership was established in 1989, according to a press release issued by the RoK’s presidential office.
The two also noted the RoK-ASEAN relationship will further develop following the signing of a free trade agreement ( FTA) on investment that is expected to take place at the end of the two-day summit, it said.
Also on May 31, President Lee called for efforts to form an economic bloc between the RoK and ASEAN, creating a driving force to get the world out of the global economic recession.
In his opening speech at the “CEO Summit” business forum, President Lee said that a global crisis requires a global countermeasure, and what is most needed is joint efforts of the RoK and ASEAN that possess great potential and the chance for a rebound.
The two-day "CEO Summit " held in Jeju drew some 700 government and business leaders from the RoK and 10 ASEAN member nations.
The RoK-ASEAN two-way trade increased from 8.2 billion USD in 1989 to 90 billion USD in 2008.
ASEAN consists of Brunei , Cambodia , Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.
Source: VNA