1. On September 17, Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha met with Secretary-General of ASEAN Lim Jock Hoi, who visited the Republic of Korea to attend the 1st ROK-ASEAN meeting of infrastructure ministers, and exchanged views on ways to strengthen cooperation with the ASEAN Secretariat in implementing the New Southern Policy.

※ 1st ROK-ASEAN meeting of infrastructure ministers

- Date and venue: September 17, 15:30~18:00 / InterContinental Seoul COEX hotel

- Participants: Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, infrastructure ministers from ten ASEAN member states, and Secretary-General of ASEAN

2. Minister Kang welcomed Secretary-General Lim’s first visit to the ROK since his inauguration as Secretary-General of ASEAN in January this year, and asked for the Secretary-General’s active role in strengthening the ROK-ASEAN partnership.

o Minister Kang said that the ROK government was making active efforts to implement the New Southern Policy at a rapid pace, and asked for cooperation from the ASEAN Secretariat with a lot of know-how on fostering cooperation among ASEAN members in order to see more cooperation in transport, water resources, energy and IT, to be discussed in the ROK-ASEAN meeting of infrastructure ministers today.

o Minister Kang also hoped that the ROK and the ASEAN Secretariat would continue to closely work together to successfully hold the ASEAN-ROK Commemorative Summit next year, and asked for the Secretariat’s continued interest and support.

3. Secretary-General Lim spoke highly of the ROK government’s commitment to elevating its relations with ASEAN to a much higher level through the New Southern Policy, and expressed hope that the two sides would hold the ASEAN-ROK Commemorative Summit successfully, and further step up cooperation in people-to-people exchanges, trade, investment, and IT. The Secretary-General also said that the ASEAN Secretariat would continue to have a keen interest and actively cooperate in doing so.

4. In addition, Secretary-General Lim took note of the positive changes in the situation on the Korean Peninsula this year, and hoped that many accomplishments would be attained at the inter-Korean summit on September 18.

* unofficial translation