Asean-Korea trade blooming, forum in Vietnam told

Speaking at the “Asean-Korea Economic Partnership Forum” in Ho Chi Minh City this week, Nguyen Son, deputy general director of the ministry’s Inter-agency Steering Committee for International Economic Integration, said Asean and Korea were key partners in many sectors, including trade, investment, tourism, culture and construction.
Trade between the two increased from $8.2 billion in 1989 to $138 billion in 2014.
The bloc surpassed the United States, the European Union and Japan to become South Korea’s second-largest trade partner after China, he said, adding that Korea was Asean’s fifth-largest partner.
Asean is the leading investment destination for South Korean firms. Last year they invested $5.7 billion in Asean member countries to rank fifth among investing countries and territories, though it was the largest in some, including Vietnam.

Production base 
Suh Jeong-in, South Korean ambassador extraordinary plenipotentiary to Asean, said Asean was not only a market but also a production base for Korean firms.
Asean offers opportunities but also challenges to Korean companies, he said, adding that Korean firms needed to have a long-term strategy for a market of 630 million people.
Professor Bun-soon Park of Korea University said that with its young population and rapid growth, Asean was a promising market for all investors.
Since Japanese firms had begun investing in the region a long time ago, they have the upper hand over Korean companies, which therefore need to make more efforts to penetrate the market, he said.
Developing partnerships with local businesses is an important factor in penetrating in the Asean market, delegates said. Son said Vietnam was one of South Korea’s most important trade partners in the Asean bloc.
Since the free-trade agreement between South Korea and Asean came into effect in 2007, trade between Vietnam and Korea has been growing at around 19 per cent a year, and this was sustained even during the global economic crisis, he said.
The number of Korean firms investing in the high-tech and services sectors has increased consistently, which has helped change the economic structure in many localities, he said.
“We expect that large projects by leading Korean groups like Samsung and LG will help develop Vietnam’s part-supply industries and enable Vietnam to take part in the global value chain.”
The Vietnam-Korea FTA, which took effect this year, will boost bilateral trade, he said.
Vietnam has signed 12 FTAs, of which 10 have taken effect, with nearly 60 economies, he said.
Investors in the Vietnamese market will automatically enjoy the attendant benefits when doing business with Vietnam’s FTA partners, he said. Pham Khac Tuyen of the Ministry of Industry and Trade said that besides large groups, many Korean small and medium-sized enterprises were also exploring investment opportunities in Vietnam.