ID :
85993
Sat, 10/24/2009 - 22:04
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://www.oananews.org//node/85993
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Leaders of S. Korea, ASEAN agree to review forging `strategic partnership`
By Byun Duk-kun
HUA HIN, Thailand, Oct. 24 (Yonhap) -- South Korean President Lee Myung-bak and
leaders of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) agreed
Saturday to work for the establishment of a strategic partnership.
The move was recommended in a report from a research group, adopted by the
leaders at a Korea-ASEAN summit held here in the eastern Thai resort city of Hua
Hin.
"President Lee and the 10 leaders of ASEAN exchanged their views on ways to
improve the Korea-ASEAN relations," Lee's presidential office Cheong Wa Dae said
in a press release.
Establishing a strategic partnership between South Korea and ASEAN will
significantly boost their diplomatic ties in tandem with with their economic
cooperation, which was bolstered in June when the sides signed a free trade deal
on investment, Cheong Wa Dae said.
Korea and ASEAN established a comprehensive cooperation partnership in 2004.
At the summit, Lee reaffirmed his country's commitment to more than double its
official development aid to ASEAN by 2015 from that of 2008.
Efforts are also underway to direct half of US$200 million Seoul has promised to
Asia under its East Asia Climate Partnership fund to the countries in this
region, Cheong Wa Dae spokeswoman Kim Eun-hye said.
The South Korean leader arrived here Friday following his visits to Vietnam and
Cambodia, members of ASEAN. The other members are Brunei, Indonesia, Laos,
Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore and the Philippines.
The three-nation trip, along with Lee's bilateral and multilateral summits with
ASEAN, sought to improve South Korea's diplomatic relations with the countries
under its "New Asia Initiative."
Lee and ASEAN leaders first met in June when he hosted a special summit on his
country's southern resort island of Jeju.
In a bilateral summit held in Hanoi earlier this week, the South Korean president
and his Vietnamese counterpart Nguyen Minh Triet agreed to forge a "strategic
cooperative partnership" between the countries, the third of its kind for South
Korea and fourth for Vietnam.
"The trip to Southeast Asia helped expand the ground for our new Asia diplomacy.
Strengthening of the country's ties with ASEAN is at the center of our New Asia
Initiative that is a key foreign policy of the Lee Myung-bak administration,"
spokeswoman Kim told reporters.
Lee and the 10 leaders of ASEAN will hold a separate summit, known as the ASEAN
Plus Three summit, which also will involve the leaders of Japan and China.
The heads of 13 state or government will be joined here Sunday by their
counterparts from India, Australia and New Zealand in a larger regional
conference, the East Asia Summit.
bdk@yna.co.kr
(END)
HUA HIN, Thailand, Oct. 24 (Yonhap) -- South Korean President Lee Myung-bak and
leaders of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) agreed
Saturday to work for the establishment of a strategic partnership.
The move was recommended in a report from a research group, adopted by the
leaders at a Korea-ASEAN summit held here in the eastern Thai resort city of Hua
Hin.
"President Lee and the 10 leaders of ASEAN exchanged their views on ways to
improve the Korea-ASEAN relations," Lee's presidential office Cheong Wa Dae said
in a press release.
Establishing a strategic partnership between South Korea and ASEAN will
significantly boost their diplomatic ties in tandem with with their economic
cooperation, which was bolstered in June when the sides signed a free trade deal
on investment, Cheong Wa Dae said.
Korea and ASEAN established a comprehensive cooperation partnership in 2004.
At the summit, Lee reaffirmed his country's commitment to more than double its
official development aid to ASEAN by 2015 from that of 2008.
Efforts are also underway to direct half of US$200 million Seoul has promised to
Asia under its East Asia Climate Partnership fund to the countries in this
region, Cheong Wa Dae spokeswoman Kim Eun-hye said.
The South Korean leader arrived here Friday following his visits to Vietnam and
Cambodia, members of ASEAN. The other members are Brunei, Indonesia, Laos,
Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore and the Philippines.
The three-nation trip, along with Lee's bilateral and multilateral summits with
ASEAN, sought to improve South Korea's diplomatic relations with the countries
under its "New Asia Initiative."
Lee and ASEAN leaders first met in June when he hosted a special summit on his
country's southern resort island of Jeju.
In a bilateral summit held in Hanoi earlier this week, the South Korean president
and his Vietnamese counterpart Nguyen Minh Triet agreed to forge a "strategic
cooperative partnership" between the countries, the third of its kind for South
Korea and fourth for Vietnam.
"The trip to Southeast Asia helped expand the ground for our new Asia diplomacy.
Strengthening of the country's ties with ASEAN is at the center of our New Asia
Initiative that is a key foreign policy of the Lee Myung-bak administration,"
spokeswoman Kim told reporters.
Lee and the 10 leaders of ASEAN will hold a separate summit, known as the ASEAN
Plus Three summit, which also will involve the leaders of Japan and China.
The heads of 13 state or government will be joined here Sunday by their
counterparts from India, Australia and New Zealand in a larger regional
conference, the East Asia Summit.
bdk@yna.co.kr
(END)
