South Korea is joining the trend of East Asian countries targeting Southeast Asia as an investment area, as a dozen of Seoul-based businessmen are now looking into the prospect of taking part in Manila’s infrastructure program.
In a news briefing on Tuesday, Association of Southeast Asian Nations-Korea Centre Secretary-General Kim Young-sun said South Korea is looking to expand its areas of cooperation with the country as part of efforts to bolster bilateral ties with Asean member-states.
“Our President has emphasized the need to improve relations with Asean countries, including the Philippines, especially in the areas of transport, energy and information and communications technology,” Kim said.
He maintained the country, along with Vietnam and Indonesia, remains to be the top Asean partners of Seoul, and he expects these ties will last long given the commitment of the government to strengthen its relations with its Asian counterparts.
“I hope South Korea finds more opportunities in the Philippines, and that we find greater potential for development,” he added.
He was joined by 12 South Korean firms looking at infrastructure opportunities in the country in its “Build, Build, Build” program. These firms are Seohyun Energy, CNNET Co. Ltd., Aju Corp., Ye Won Co. Ltd., GS E&C, Pyunghwa Engineering Consultants Ltd., K-Water, Daelim E&C, Soosung Engineering Co. Ltd., CJ Human Tech Company Ltd., Korea Electric Power Corp. and Hanjin Heavy Industries and Construction.
Kim said he and the business delegation went to Clark, Pampanga, on Monday to see for themselves the potential of the area as an infrastructure zone. He said the Seoul-based businessmen found Clark conducive for their proposed business venture on infrastructure and energy.
Philippine Ambassador to South Korea Raul S. Hernandez said the country aims to promote in South Korea garments, holiday decorations, electronic parts, education services, language courses and information technology and business-process management. He explained export potential will be explored to top up the current exports of the country to South Korea, which are mostly agricultural products.
“We have a total trade of about $8 billion to $9 billion, and we would like to increase that in the years to come. One of the things we can focus on now is to continue exporting our agricultural products to South Korea, and explore other exports to boost this already robust trade,” Hernandez said.
Hernandez added Seoul is diverting its investment policy toward Southeast Asian countries, as the East Asian country finds the region a leading growth prospect across the world, aside from its strategic geographic location. South Korea is seemingly mirroring the trade policy of its neighbors China and Taiwan, both of which have rolled out flagship trade policies involving southern Asian countries.
China, for one, is pursuing President Xi Jinping’s grand plan of reviving the maritime Silk Road that has been critical to the country’s development in its nascent years. Taiwan is implementing its New Southbound Policy that intends to improve people-to-people linkages with South and Southeast Asian countries.