President Moon Jae-in of the Republic of Korea (RoK) on November 14 invited leaders of Southeast Asian nations to attend special summits that the country will hold in 2019 to mark the 30th anniversary of relations between the RoK and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
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President Moon Jae-in of the Republic of Korea addressed a RoK-ASEAN summit in Singapore on November 14 (Photo: VNA)
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According to Yonhap News Agency, the RoK President made the invitation during a RoK-ASEAN summit in Singapore, underlining the East Asian nation’s commitment to relations with ASEAN.
The country will host the RoK-ASEAN special summit and the first RoK-Mekong summit next year, he said.
Moon said that 2019 is a very significant year for the RoK as it marks not only the 30th anniversary of the country's relations with ASEAN, but also the 100th year of the Independence Movement (March 1, 1919-2019).
The RoK leader said his New Southern Policy is an expression of his commitment to seek co-prosperity with ASEAN nations, with his Government having worked hard over the past year to lay the groundwork for greater cooperation between the two sides.
He added that such efforts have produced tangible results, with bilateral trade volume rising 6 percent to 120 billion USD in the first nine months of the year from the same period last year and the number of visitors to the other side increasing by 17 percent to more than 8 million.
Moon said the RoK will further expand trade and exchanges with ASEAN under the goal of increasing the volume of two-way trade to 200 billion USD and the number of visitors to 15 million by 2020./.