Hanoi seminar sheds light on ASEAN-RoK strategic partnership A seminar in Hanoi on November 21 highlighted the strategic partnership between the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the Republic of Korea (RoK). The event was jointly held by the RoK Embassy in Vietnam and the ASEAN Department under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) as part of activities in preparation of the ASEAN-RoK Commemorative Summit 2014 in Busan next month. It attracted the participation of RoK Ambassador Jun Daejoo, head of MoFA’s ASEAN Department Nguyen Tien Minh, officials from ministries, agencies, ASEAN embassies and ASEAN partners in Hanoi, as well as representatives of the Korean business community in Vietnam. Participants compared notes and discussed measures to boost ASEAN-RoK relations in general and Vietnam-RoK ties in particular in prioritised fields, including politics, security, economics, socio-culture, and appropriate and effective response to global challenges. Head of MoFA’s ASEAN Department Nguyen Tien Minh spoke highly of the RoK’s strong commitment to fostering the relationship with ASEAN member countries and its support for ASEAN’s efforts in promoting peace, stability and community building. Nguyen Tien Minh He emphasized that since ASEAN and the RoK set up their dialogue relation 25 years ago, the two sides have taken constant efforts to make it a strategic partnership in 2010. “We are nowadays witnessing significant outcomes of bilateral ties,” Minh stated. For his part, Ambassador Jun Daejoo believed that the seminar would create a firm foundation for deepening ASEAN-RoK strategic partnership towards the implementation of agreements and cooperation roadmaps reached by both sides.  “The building of the ASEAN Community in 2015 will make huge changes to the region and the world as a whole. So, both Vietnam and the RoK should grasp every opportunity offered by the ASEAN Community in order to strengthen regional connectivity, speed up the integration process and market access, and make full use of human resource advantages of both countries, he noted. Ambassador Jun Daejoo Other participants highlighted ASEAN-RoK relations over the past 25 years and pointed out orientations for future bilateral relations focusing on three pillars - politics-security; economics; and socio-culture. The two sides will beef up cooperation and support each other in maintaining peace, stability and security in Northeast and Southeast Asia. They will further consolidate cooperative frameworks with ASEAN playing a key role in dealing with regional issues, including the nuclear issue in the Korean Peninsula and sovereignty disputes in the East Sea. ASEAN and the RoK are expected to raise their two-way trade turnover to US$150 billion in 2015 and US$200 billion in 2020, make advantage use of the ASEAN-RoK Free Trade Agreement (AKFTA), and promote negotiations on the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP). They will also promote cultural and people-to-people exchange, especially among youngsters, and enhance cooperation in environmental protection, natural disaster prevention and control, climate change adaption, and food security. Participants at the seminar proposed measures to foster Vietnam-RoK relations, aimed at facilitating the building of a stronger ASEAN community. Both countries attached importance to strengthening their strategic partnership in a more practical and effective manner. The RoK is the second largest foreign direct investor and trade partner of Vietnam, with two-way trade turnover hitting US$27.5 billion last year. The country is also Vietnam’s second biggest ODA donor with a committed aid worth US$1.2 billion in the 2012-2015 period. More than 120,000 Vietnamese people and a similar number of Korean people are residing, working and studying in the RoK and Vietnam respectively. VOV