South Korea comes to the Asean Summit with special offerings for Cambodia.
During Prime Minister Kim Suk Soo’s official visit, which immediately follows the summit, South Korea and Cambodia will sign two agreements—the first of which is a trade agreement to promote investment and business activities between the two countries.
The second is a $20 million loan agreement for the construction of a section of National Route 3 in Kampot province. Cambodia had already received from South Korea a $20 million loan to develop the civil service database system and a $27 million loan for its vocational training program.
These agreements are scheduled to be signed tomorrow by Kim Hang Kyung, South Korea’s acting minister of foreign affairs, and Foreign Minister Hor Namhong in the case of the loan arrangement, and by Minister of Commerce Cham Prasidh for the trade agreement.
Asean countries this morning join South Korea, whose delegation consists of about 50 people, for the Asean Plus Korea Summit.
South Korea became a full dialogue partner of Asean in 1991. In what South Korea called its “Four-Power Diplomacy,” its relations with Asean rank in importance right after the US, Japan, China and Russia.
Economic ties between Asean and South Korea were built up in the 1990s, making South Korea the third biggest source of imports and the fourth largest export market for Asean, according to an Asean statement issued by the Cambodian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Between 1993 and 2000, Asean’s imports from South Korea doubled to $14.5 billion and its exports to that country jumped from
$6.1 billion to $14.1 billion, the statement said. South Korea also invested $3.1 billion in Asean countries between 1995 and 2000.
“I personally would like to see [South] Korea become a full member of Asean,” said Won Hyung Lee, South Korea’s ambassador. “We need to be together—we, the mid-size countries—in order to maintain our identity separate from the superpowers.”
