South Korea to double ASEAN development fund by 2027

October 10, 2024

By Islamuddin Sajid

ANKARA (AA) – South Korea on Thursday announced plans to double its cooperation funds for key projects in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) region to $48 million by 2027, according to local media.

The pledge by President Yoon Suk Yeol was made during a summit between ASEAN and South Korea in Vientiane, Laos, held on the margins of an ongoing ASEAN summit that brought together leaders and representatives from the regional bloc.

"Today, South Korea and ASEAN established a comprehensive strategic partnership to further enhance cooperation," Yonhap News Agency quoted Yoon as saying.

"As partners for shared prosperity, we will push for comprehensive cooperation across a wide range of areas," he added.

ASEAN, in a separate statement, said the summit adopted a joint statement on the establishment of an ASEAN-South Korea "Comprehensive Strategic Partnership," which it called meaningful, substantive, and mutually beneficial.

The meeting reviewed the achievements of ASEAN-South Korea relations and discussed its future direction under the newly launched partnership.

It was the first upgrade of relations between the two sides in 14 years, after they established a lower-level "strategic partnership" in 2010, according to Yonhap.

South Korea is ASEAN's sixth dialogue partner to reach the highest level of ties, following the US, China, Japan, Australia, and India.

The ASEAN region is home to more than 700 million people, spans 4.5 million square kilometers (1.7 million square miles), and recorded a total GDP of $3.62 trillion in 2022.