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대사님 한-ASEAN 포럼 개회사
2016.7.15(금), 주아세안 대표부
HE Ambassador Rahmat Pramono, Professor PARK Sa-Myung, Distinguished participants, Ladies and gentlemen,
Good morning!
First of all, it's my great pleasure to be back here in Bandung and participate in this important forum with all of you today. I would also like to thank the Korean Institute of Southeast Asian Studies(KISEAS) and Universitas Katolik Parahyangan, for organizing the forum.
Since its inception in 2005, the Korea-ASEAN Forum has consistently contributed to the enhancement of the Korea-ASEAN relations through venues such as this forum. I believe that the Korea-ASEAN Forum has provided the framework for sustained intellectual exchanges between ASEAN and Korea on how best to carry our mutually beneficial relationship forward. However, the task of maintaining and strengthening our relationship cannot be left to our governments alone. It requires the commitments and engagements of various stake-holders, including academics like all of you here today.
Two years ago, Korea and ASEAN celebrated the 25th Anniversary of our formal Dialogue partnership. To mark this historic occasion, our Leaders gathered in Busan to hold the commemorative summit.
However, not many are aware that there was another small but
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noteworthy and tangible outcome of our celebration: the publication of 'ASEAN-Korea Relations: 25 years of Partnership and Friendship' co-authored by KISEAS and various contributors. This invaluable publication has illustrated our relationship from the beginning, proposing the way forward in various fields of our cooperation and collaboration. Personally, I have read this useful book a few times; in fact, I have borrowed quite a number of ideas from this book for my previous public lecture in Jakarta. For that, I would like to express my personal gratitude to the KISEAS and the contributors for their thoughtful works.
For ASEAN, the year 2017 will be another very special year. First of all, ASEAN under the chairmanship of the Philippines will be celebrating the 50th Anniversary of its inception. I am sure that it will be another milestone year for ASEAN since the launch of ASEAN Community this year.
In terms of the Korea-ASEAN relations, the year 2017 will be a special year for 2 reasons. First, we will be seeing the grand opening of the ASEAN Culture House in Busan, Korea at the 2nd half of 2017. Secondly, the year 2017 will be celebrated as the Korea-ASEAN Cultural Exchange Year. In conjunction with ASEAN's 50th Anniversary and the grand opening of the ASEAN Culture House, Korea and ASEAN will be hosting a number of events and celebrations.
Lastly, in terms of a greater regional integration in East Asia, the year 2017 will also be a special occasion because the main vehicle of East Asia's regional integration, the ASEAN Plus Three mechanism will be celebrating its 20th Anniversary.
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All these celebrations will be an opportunity to reflect, renew and reinvigorate ASEAN-Korea relations. Inputs and ideas for deepening our relationship from various stake-holders, especially from academics such as yourselves will be needed. I would also appreciate hearing your assessment of the past 25 years of the Korea-ASEAN cooperation projects. At the moment, we are in the transition from the project-based approach to the program-based approach. During the transition, Korea and ASEAN need to look back on our previous cooperative works and use these as reference points for designing our program based approach. More specifically, we look forward to your suggestions on which areas should be given priority in the program-based approach. In this regard, I believe that today's forum is very timely and a wonderful occasion to hear your suggestions and ideas.
I would also like to seek your valuable contributions to the improvements of the ASEAN-led regional mechanisms such as ASEAN Plus Three and the East Asia Summit. The Track 2’s valuable insight and ideas have always been the backbone of our regional architectures. Your contributions will again be a strong accelerator to enhance our existing regional mechanisms.
As mentioned earlier, by 2017, ASEAN and the Plus 3 countries will be celebrating the 20th Anniversary of the APT mechanism. In addition, the current APT Work Plan 2013-17 will be expired and the APT member states will be starting discussions on the adoption of the new APT Work Plan. But, this cannot be achieved without the support of the Track 2 and other invaluable stake-holders.
Therefore, I sincerely hope that all of you would continuously be engaged on this matter as well.
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For some time, the countries in East Asia have been discussing for the need of developing an alternative regional security architecture. At the same time, there has been a strong and consistent demand of strengthening the East Asia Summit, which is also known as the region’s ‘premier leaders-led strategic’
forum. Considering this trend, we need to find a delicate balance between creating a new regional architecture on one hand and strengthening the existing one on the other hand. In this regards, I believe that the Track 2 can play a constructive role of assisting and advising their respective governments.
From today's presentations and discussions, I hope that all of us could exchange and share valuable viewpoints and ideas for the Korea-ASEAN relations and the greater East Asian regionalism. As always, ideas and advices from all of you here will be the stepping stone for the next phase of the Korea-ASEAN relations and East Asian regionalism. I will look forward to hearing your thoughts and I wish all of you a meaningful and productive forum.
Thank you for your attention.
