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| President Park Geun-hye and Indonesian President Joko Widodo shake hands before a summit in Busan on the sidelines of the ASEAN-Korea Commemorative Summit in Busan, Thursday. / Yonhap |
By Kang Seung-woo
BUSAN — President Park Geun-hye called for a further liberalization of the free trade agreement (FTA) with ASEAN, Thursday, to expand business opportunities for Korean companies in one of the world's fastest-growing regions.
"The conclusion of the Korea-ASEAN FTA was a turning point in economic cooperation between the two sides," Park said in a speech at the CEO Summit, held on the sidelines of the ASEAN-Korea Commemorative Summit in Busan.
ASEAN stands for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and a free trade pact between it and Korea related to merchandise took effect in 2007. Similar deals on services and investments went into effect in 2009.
According to Cheong Wa Dae, trade with ASEAN has increased from $61 billion in 2006 to more than $130 billion in 2013, helping the region emerge as Korea's second-largest trading partner and third-largest investment destination.
"We cannot afford to be complacent. Korea and ASEAN should take further steps to promote bilateral economic cooperation," she said.
Park said that the utilization rate of the Korea-ASEAN FTA among Korean businesses is roughly half the level seen with other FTAs due to complicated rules of origin.
"In light of this, the agreement reached between Korea and ASEAN on trade facilitation and other improvements to the FTA in various sectors is especially welcome," she said.
"I hope additional liberalization measures and improved rules of origin will follow, so that more businesses can take advantage of the benefits.
"I ask for support from the business community so that the Korean and ASEAN governments will be able to begin additional negotiations without delay."
Park said she believes that Korea and ASEAN need to combine their strength and create synergy to infuse new vitality into the economies in both regions.
As part of those efforts, along with a further liberalization of the bilateral free trade deal, the President made two more proposals: to work together for small- and medium-sized enterprises in both regions to be able to join global value chains (GVCs) with ease, and to expand their economic cooperation to the service sector beyond energy and manufacturing.
"Korea and ASEAN are two leading regions that have achieved economic growth by proactively participating in GVCs," she said.
As for the expansion of the service sector, she said the most important thing is to remove regulations that stand in the way of cooperation and progress in the industry.
Meanwhile, Park held a series of summits, sitting down with six heads of state — from Myanmar, Indonesia, Laos, Thailand, the Philippines and Singapore — to discuss ways to enhance bilateral ties.
She also met with Brunei's Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak and Vietnam's Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung earlier this week.
During the meetings, President Park asked the leaders to help Korean companies participate in each country's construction of infrastructure, according to Cheong Wa Dae.
"The state-controlled Korea Water Resources Corp. has recovered its status as a preferred bidder in Thailand's water management projects. Malaysia asked Korean firms to join the $13 billion project to build a high-speed rail link between Singapore and Malaysia, and to take part in its nuclear power plant construction," senior economic presidential secretary Ahn Jong-beom said in a briefing.
Park also sought measures to boost economic cooperation with other ASEAN members including Laos.
ASEAN is comprised of Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Thailand, Singapore and Vietnam.
The two sides initiated relations in November 1989 and the partnership was elevated to summit level in 1997.
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