JOINT STATEMENT OF THE 1ST ASEAN-ROK BUSINESS COUNCIL
We, the 11 representative economic/business organizations and business people of ASEAN and the ROK, convened the 1st ASEAN-ROK Business Council Meeting in Busan, Korea, on the 10th of December 2014 in association with the 2014 ASEAN-ROK Commemorative Summit and exchanged views on the vitalization of exchange between the private sectors and cooperation between ASEAN and the ROK. At the council meeting, we reached the following understanding:
○ The ASEAN-ROK Business Council will explore ways to capitalize on the ASEAN-Korea FTA and cooperate on resolving problems and barriers to business activities and SMEs’ advancement into each other’s market. In particular, the Council will make concerted efforts to utilize the ASEAN-Korea FTA to the fullest with the aim of strengthening the competitiveness and growth of SMEs.
○ The ASEAN-ROK Business Council will make efforts to facilitate cooperation among SMEs of the ROK and ASEAN for the expansion of public infrastructure that will serve as a foundation for sustainable growth. The Council will also ensure that these efforts will lead to the expansion of cooperation and advancement of SMEs into each other’s market.
○ The ASEAN-ROK Business Council will cooperate on supporting the globalization and promotion of SMEs of ASEAN and the ROK. To this end, the Council will make an effort to share relevant policies and develop and jointly implement programs to support the globalization of SMEs that can facilitate exchange among business people of the two sides.
○ The ASEAN-ROK Business Council will work together to find areas for economic and business cooperation that can bring about synergy between the two economies. To this end, the Council will make endeavors to develop research programs led by economic and business management experts from the two economies and reflect the results in future cooperative projects.
○ The ASEAN-ROK Business Council will fully cooperate with inter-governmental consultative bodies of the two economies. The discussions and results of council meetings will be reported to Korea-ASEAN government meetings so that they can be implemented through real policies.