South Korea offers ASEAN to boost trade involving small, medium business

SEOUL, December 11. /TASS/. South Korean leadership called for liberalising trade with the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN). Expansion of South Korean-ASEAN free trade deal will accelerate business development in this region, South Korean President Park Geun-hye said at the opening of the South Korea-ASEAN summit. She suggests South Korea and the ASEAN states to go beyond the scope of co-operation in energy and processing industry broadening partnership in the sector of services involving small and medium businesses. The free trade deal between Seoul and nine ASEAN member states came into effect in 2007. This year South Korea has signed similar accords with Australia, Vietnam, Canada, China and New Zealand which account for 74 percent of global GDP. ASEAN is one of South Korean key trade partners and is ranked second in the amount of South Korean investments. Trade between these partners has reached $135 billion. Read more