"Partnership for Real, Friendship for Good" - This is the theme of the ASEAN- Korea Commemorative Summit held on the island of Jeju from June 1 to 2 to commemorate the 20th anniversary of ASEAN-Korea Dialogue Relations. On the sidelines, the ASEAN-Korea CEO Summit was also held on the island from May 31 to June 1 to forge business partnerships and encourag the business communities of ASEAN and Korea to continue strategic networking for mutual benefits and to fully maximize the potential available under the framework of the ASEAN-Korea FTA, according to the summit's 40-point Joint Statement, which the leaders of ASEAN and Korea adopted upon concluding their summit on June 2.
As a result of the summit, the trade volume between ASEAN and Korea is expected to increase to US$150 billion by 2015 through the ASEAN-Korea FTA and other complementary trade arrangements. The leaders of ASEAN and Korea agreed to utilize the ASEAN-Korea Centre to facilitate promotional activities for trade and investment, including product exhibitions, exchange of trade and investment missions, and exchange of information on trade and investment. The leaders also agreed to closely cooperate and monitor the FTA implementation process by strengthening economic cooperation projects, the statement added.
In the statement, the leaders highly estimated Korea's efforts to strengthen ties with ASEAN nations through President Lee Myung-bak's New Asia Initiative, saying, "Korea and ASEAN have developed a relationship of reciprocal cooperation based on mutual trust and respect over the past 20 years." Korea, in turn, expressed its support for ASEAN's plan to launch "three communities - a political and security community, an economic community, and a social and cultural community -- by 2015."
The leaders also agreed to respond jointly to global challenges such as climate change, environmental pollution, the current worldwide financial crisis and economic recession, food and energy security, and new epidemics. They pledged to make efforts for the establishment of a new ASEAN Plus Three Emergency Rice Reserve (APTERR) in order to ensure food security in the region.
Peace and Stability on the Korean Peninsula
In an unprecedented consensus, Lee and ASEAN leaders adopted a Joint Press Statement during their summit to denounce North Korea's latest underground nuclear test and launch of missiles. The leaders reiterated the importance of denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula through a peaceful solution to the North Korean nuclear issue to maintain peace and stability in Asia and the Pacific, while expressing their full support for the resumption of the six-party talks and expecting the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) to contribute to sustaining peace and stability on the peninsula.
Korea-ASEAN FTA
During the summit, Korean Trade Minister Kim Jong-hoon and his counterparts from the 10 ASEAN member states signed an investment FTA pact at the Jeju International Convention Center on June 2 on mutual investment and the protection of investors. The pact deals with general treatment provisions on mutually fair treatment and protection of investors; enhancement of transparency; and provisions on the use of the investor-state dispute settlement (ISD) procedure in case losses occur to investments or investors.
East Asia Climate Partnership and ODA
Aside from bilateral trade and investment agreements, Lee suggested the launch of an Asian Forest Cooperation Organization as a way to deal jointly with climate change. He also pledged to donate US$200 million to East Asian nations, including ASEAN members, through an East Asia Climate Partnership. Korea will give active support to ASEAN so that it can create new growth engines through green projects and achieve a virtuous cycle between economic growth and responses to climate change, he said.
Korea also vowed to double last year's amount of the Official Development Assistance (ODA) loans to ASEAN nations to US$400 million by 2015. The amount of the Korean-ASEAN Cooperation Fund will increase to US$5 million annually from next year. The number of ASEAN regional grantees of the Global Korea Scholarship, the Korean government's scholarship program for foreign students, will also jump from 109 per year to more than 200 by 2012.
ICT Cooperation
Korea and the ASEAN nations positively reviewed the result of their cooperation in the information and communication sector, with Korea agreeing to continuously support ASEAN countries in developing ICT personnel resources and ICT models, seeking information security and digital convergence, and removing ill effects of ICT development.
Sharing the view that the ASEAN members have received much assistance from Korea in developing their electronics infrastructure, Korea and ASEAN agreed on Korea's continued supply of ICT facilities to less developed nations. They also agreed to closely cooperate in state-of-the-art materials, environmental, bioengineering, and nano technologies.
