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December 02, 2009 13:31 PM
Closer South Korea-Asean Ties
From Rubiah Mohamed
SEOUL, Dec 2 (Bernama) -- South Korea regards Asean as a key political, economic and socio-cultural partner and is committed to further strengthening ties with the 10-nation Southeast Asian grouping.
The future was bright for a new era in relations and cooperation between the two sides, said Young Jai Cho, secretary-general of the Asean-Korea Centre.
South Korea and Asean were vigorously moving towards a comprehensive cooperative partnership, he told an Asean media delegation which called at his office here.
Cho said the Asean-Korea Centre, inaugurated in March, had charted ways to beef up ties with Asean, which was the third largest trading dan investment destination and second largest overseas construction market for South Korea.
It had organised several exhibitions, mission, seminars and workshops to promote investment, tourism, cultural exchange and technical cooperation.
The Asean-Korea commemorative summit held in Jeju island in June was also an important milestone in enhancing the relationship between them, Cho said.
He noted that half of the US$200 million allocated by the South Korean government for the East Asian Climate Partnership Fund for five years starting this year was for initiatives and projects in Asean countries.
Jeju island province Vice-Governor Yang Jo-hoon told the Asean journalists that it wanted to increase tourism and people-to-people contact with Asean member countries.
To create more awareness of the culture of the Asean countries, the province would organise "Week of Asean" in the second half of next year to showcase their cultures to Koreans.
Discussions were being held with the tourism authorities of Asean countries, he added.
Jeju, an hour's flight from the Korean capital, is a major tourist destination which grossed US$2.5 billion (RM8.5 billion) earnings between January and November this year.
The visit by the Asean media delegation, with three representatives from each Asean country, is to mark two decades of Asean-South Korea dialogue partnership.
Asean comprises Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
-- BERNAMA
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