Governor of Jeju Special Self-Governing Province Kim Tae Hwan,
Former Foreign Minister Han Seung-joo,
President of the Jeju Peace Institute Han Tae-kyu,
Chariman of the Korean Institute of Southeast Asian
Studies Shin Yoon-hwan,
Excellencies and Distinguished Guests,
It is indeed a great pleasure to be here at the 12th ASEAN Forum sponsored by the Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, which is held to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Korea-ASEAN dialogue relations.
This ASEAN Forum is a valuable opportunity for experts and officials from Korea and the ten ASEAN countries to share insights and ideas for the future relations between the two sides. In this regard, I wish to take this opportunity to explain the purpose, background, and overall direction of our government's New Asia Initiative.
President Lee Myung-bak announced the Initiative during his visits to Australia, New Zealand and Indonesia in early March this year. This Initiative is based on the principle of promoting friendship and cooperation with the countries in Asia.
Our cooperation with the Asian region is assuming ever greater importance not only because of the region's increasing significance as a center of the global economy but also because of the need for regional cooperation to solve the global challenges such as the financial crisis and climate change.
Responding to this reality, the Korean Government is seeking to enhance the level of overall substantial cooperative relations with ASEAN and other Asian countries in various fields.
Last year, our new administration successfully carried out summit diplomacy with the four countries of the US, China, Japan and Russia, thus upgrading our relationships with these countries into strategic cooperation relations. And we have strengthened the mechanisms for trilateral consultations between the ROK, China and Japan.
While developing the existing strategic cooperation between the ROK and the four neighboring countries, the ROK Government will also endeavor to strengthen our cooperative mechanisms with the countries in the Southeast Asian, Southwest Asian, Central Asian and South Pacific regions.
In particular, the ROK Government aims to strengthen development cooperation with Asian countries by drawing upon our own experience of successful economic and social development and to promote trade and investment with them, which in turn will enable us to identify new growth engines for our economy.
Our new administration's diplomatic vision is to achieve a "Global Korea." In order to secure respect from the broader international community, the first step is to ensure support and respect from its neighbors in Asia where we belong, by fulfilling a role befitting our status in the world.
To this end, we will actively contribute to the efforts to address global challenges such as the financial crisis, climate change, and terrorism. In the process of providing our contribution and carrying out our role, we will endeavor to represent the common interests of the whole of Asia by working together with Asian countries.
Furthermore, the Korean Government will seek to contribute to peace and stability, development and prosperity, and the resolution of regional matters such as natural disaster management in Asia. In particular, we will endeavor to realize the shared vision of "Green Growth."
Now let me turn to the importance of Asia to us.
Cooperation with Asian countries is no longer a matter of choice - it is an imperative, given Asia's enormous potential as the most populous region and one of the biggest markets in the world. Asia is an immense market, which now accounts for 52% of the world population and one fifth of the total world GDP, with its trade reaching up to one fourth of world trade.
With the increase of trade among the ASEAN+3 countries and the emergence of China and India as economic powerhouses, Asia is assuming an even greater role as a center of the world economy.
With this tremendous potential for growth, Asia is becoming increasingly significant for Korea as the greatest partner for cooperation.
Ten out of Korea's fifteen major trading partners are Asian nations: last year, Korea's trade with Asia amounted to 413 billion US dollars, accounting for 48% of its total trade, and Korea's investment to Asia amounts to 10.8 billion dollars, accounting for 50% of its total overseas investment. 72% of Korean travellers visit Asia, and 57% of Korean nationals reside in the Asian region.
In particular, our trade with ASEAN countries has shown a 26% increase to 90.2 billion US dollars in 2008, making the region Korea's third largest trade partner. In 2007, ASEAN was the fifth largest trade partner to Korea, with the total trade amounting to 71.9 billion US dollars. With this trend, ASEAN may become Korea's second largest trade partner in the near future.
Having emerged from severe poverty in the wake of the Second World War, Korea has moved towards a developed country by achieving a market economy and democratization in a short period of time.
The developing countries of Asia are keen to learn from our development experience to push for their own economic growth and development in all other areas including the educational and social spheres. The developing countries of Asia consider Korea's development model to be more efficient than that of developed countries because of Korea's similar past experience as a poor country.
I would now like to offer some reflections on concrete ways to pursue the "New Asia Initiative."
First, we are going to expand our contribution to Asia and map out comprehensive measures with regard to development cooperation for developing countries in Asia.
The Korean Government will gradually expand its official development assistance (ODA), sharing with Asian developing countries our own experience. In this vein, we will join the OECD DAC (Development Assistance Committee) in 2010 and thereby take part in the process of drawing up common policies on developing countries. And we will endeavor to reflect particular features and needs of Asian countries in the DAC.
In addition, we will host the 4th High-Level Meeting on Aid Effectiveness in 2011 in Seoul with the aim of enhancing aid efficiency and setting the direction for development assistance.
Moreover, we will devise various development assistance programs, taking into account the different stages of development of Asian countries and mapping out differentiated strategies tailored to the situations in each country. Considering the different priorities of Asian countries in their development plans, we will seek to support such priorities in providing our assistance.
Currently, Korea provides 33% of its total ODA to the Asian region. By expanding our official development aid (ODA) to the developing countries in Asia, we will seek to enhance the 'soft power' of Korea.
Furthermore, as part of the measures to implement the Korean Government's vision of "Low Carbon, Green Growth", we will push forward with the "East Asia Climate Partnership" that will benefit developing countries in Asia with project funding of $200 million over five years. In this way, we will set a new paradigm for development cooperation in the Asian region.
Second, while strengthening substantial economic cooperation with Asian countries through customized measures that take into consideration particular economic conditions of respective countries in the region, we also hope to generate new growth engines for the Korean economy in the future.
Above of all, the ROK will build FTA networks with major Asia-Pacific countries and in this way lay the groundwork for promoting cooperation in the areas of trade, investment and services. This process will facilitate Korean enterprises' investment in the Asian region and vice versa, which in the long run will benefit both sides.
The FTA negotiations with Australia and New Zealand which were agreed during President Lee Myung-bak's visit to Australia and New Zealand in early March this year are slated to begin this month. The ASEAN-Korea FTA Agreements on Trade in Goods and Services have already come into effect. The ASEAN-Korea FTA Agreement on Investment will be signed during the ASEAN-Korea Commemorative Summit on Jeju island. Also, the signing of the CEPA with India that is rapidly becoming an important player in the world economy is just around the corner. Through these multi-layered FTA networks with major Asian economies, we will actively participate in more inclusive economic cooperation in the Asian region.
Moreover, Asia is rapidly moving towards regional economic and social integration. The ASEAN ten nations are aiming to achieve the ASEAN Community by the year 2015. Furthermore, several initiatives are under discussion such as the EAFTA among ASEAN+3 countries and CEPEA among ASEAN+6 countries. Through SAARC, eight countries in South West Asia including India and Pakistan are strengthening their regional cooperation. We will also actively participate in these on-going movements towards economic integration in Asia.
In addition, we will make full use of the ASEAN-Korea Centre, which was launched last March. We are confident that the ASEAN-Korea Centre will contribute greatly to mutual cultural exchanges between ASEAN and Korea.
Furthermore, in devising various strategies for bilateral economic cooperation, tailored to each country and based on bilateral complementarity, we will consider the most effective ways to maximize mutual benefits. In addition to that, we will strive to promote our mutual cooperation in the areas of energy and natural resources with countries in Asia, which have abundant natural resources such as petroleum, natural gas and mineral resources.
Third, to address global challenges, we will build cooperation mechanisms with other Asian countries. We will establish necessary consultation mechanisms to settle key global issues and cooperate with them to achieve common goals in the areas concerned.
As a part of such efforts, the ROK will host the World Economic Forum on East Asia in Seoul, from 18-19 June. This meeting will discuss the implications of the global financial crisis and ways to resolve the issue of climate change.
At the same time, we will work on operationalizing the 120 billion USD Chiang Mai Initiative Mutilateralization (CMIM) fund by the end of this year. In addition, we will actively participate in regional cooperation that aims to utilize Asian financial resources to develop the Asian Bond Market, increase capital for the Asian Development Bank, and improve regional response mechanisms to cope with financial crisis.
Korea, China and Japan have forged partnerships through approximately 50 cooperative inter-government committees including 15 Ministerial Meetings on Foreign Affairs, Finance, Information and Communication, Science and Technology, and the Environment, etc. Last year, the Korea-China-Japan Summit Meeting was held for the first time in Northeast Asia. The three countries will take turns hosting the Summit with a view to institutionalizing this tripartite leaders' meeting.
The most effective way to implement our New Asia Initiative is to reinforce summit diplomacy. President Lee Myung-bak returned to Seoul yesterday from his visits to Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. Following the state visits to Australia, New Zealand and Indonesia last March and the recent visit to Central Asia, President Lee will attend the Second Korea-China-Japan Summit to be held in the latter half of this year in China and the ASEAN-Korea/ ASEAN+3/EAS Summit in October, in Thailand and APEC Summit in November 2009, in Singapore and thereby strengthen our participation in various regional cooperation mechanisms.
In particular, as this year marks the 20th anniversary of the ASEAN-Korea Dialogue Partnership, the ASEAN-Korea Commemorative Summit will take place on 1-2 of June on Jeju Island. The Summit Meeting will offer an important opportunity to review the relationship between Korea and the 10 ASEAN countries over the past 20 years and to set the direction for our future relations.
Following the ASEAN-Korea Commemorative Summit, we will expand exchange of high-level delegates and leaders' visits with Asian countries.
Distinguished Guests,
In particular, given our unique situation as a divided nation, the cooperation with neighboring Asian countries, along with the diplomatic support from the U.S., China, Japan and Russia, is vital to peace and stability of the region including the Korean Peninsula. It was with the support from the international community that it has been made possible for Korea to succeed in achieving remarkable development over the past decades. Now it is time for us to fully participate in the development of the Asian region.
Asia is a region where advanced economies and developing economies co-exist. Given Korea's special position between developed and developing countries, we will play a constructive bridging part in the Asian region. In particular, amidst the global financial crisis, our chairmanship of the G-20 has provided us with an opportunity to duly advocate the common Asian interests.
By increasing our contribution and solidifying our position as a genuine partner for the prosperity and development of Asia, we can enhance our standing and thus secure our position as a respected country in the international community.
I look forward to the participants putting forward many excellent ideas regarding the future partnership between ASEAN and Korea at this forum.
Thank you.
