Malaysia, South Korea Close Trade Partners, Says Envoy

From Zainal Abdul Jalil SEOUL, Dec 28 (Bernama) -- Close trade partners, Malaysia and South Korea, recorded total trade of US$10.80 billion (US$1 = RM4.30) from January to August this year. Malaysian Ambassador to South Korea, Rohan Ramli, said the Look East Policy was effective to boost bilateral ties and cooperation with South Korea. "I think we need to be aggressive in undertaking trade and investment missions to South Korea to increase the confidence of the Korean entrepreneurs, especially in boosting economic cooperation. "The total (US$10.8 billion) has made Malaysia the 12th biggest trade partner of South Korea and the latter the 10th biggest investor in the manufacturing industry in Malaysia," she said. Rohana said this when met at the welcoming ceremony for the Crown Prince of Malaysia's northernmost state of Perlis, Tuanku Syed Faizuddin Putra Jamalullail. Tuanku Syed Faizuddin, who is also Chancellor of Malaysian public university, Universiti Malaysia Perlis was in South Korea on a working visit recently. "Last year trade amounted to US$18.68 billion. I believe this amount will increase based on the positive trends in the country's economy," she said. She said Malaysia's main exports to South Korea were liquefied natural gas, oil, electrical and electronic products while the main imports were machinery, oil products and electrical and electronic goods. For the first six months of this year, she said, Malaysia approved six South Korean projects worth US$60.9 million. On tourism, she said, for January to April this year, tourists arrivals from South Korea rose by 12.1 per cent to 149,951 from 133,753 a year ago. "For January-August 2015, 121,780 Malaysians visited South Korea, down by 8.6 per cent for the same period last year (132,319)," she said. --BERNAMA