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SKorea, ASEAN sign sweeping free trade pact
AFP - Tuesday, June 2
SEOGWIPO, South Korea (AFP) - - South Korea and ASEAN ompleted a free trade agreement covering almost 650 million people and vowing to fight protectionism and work to tackle the global economic crisis.
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The leaders of South Korea and the group of 10 Southeast Asian nations ended a two-day summit pledging further cooperation to boost Asia's financial sector by supporting the development of a stronger regional bond market.
In an end-of-summit statement, they called for the speedy implementation of a 120-billion dollar emergency currency pool agreed last month with China and Japan to help East Asian economies fight financial stress.
They also called for the setting up of an "independent surveillance unit" to detect signs of future financial crises before they hit the region and to assess countries wanting to draw from the currency pool.
In an immediate move to strengthen economic ties, Seoul and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) signed an agreement to complete a free trade pact they hope will nearly double trade to 150 billion dollars by 2015.
The investment accord is the final plank of a comprehensive pact that also covers trade in goods and services. The trade in goods pact went into effect in 2007 and the services agreement last month after talks began in 2005.
In 2008 two-way trade was worth 90.2 billion dollars, compared with 46.4 billion in 2004.
In response to the global economic downturn, they reaffirmed their "commitment to do our outmost to stimulate economic growth in the region and stand firm against protectionism," according to the statement.
"We agreed to take proactive and decisive policy actions to restore market confidence and ensure continued financial stability to promote sustainable regional economic growth."
They said strengthening the Asian bond market will allow the region's massive savings to be used to fund development projects and spur growth.
There was also a pledge to expand cooperation in the energy sector "in the light of volatile energy prices, climate change and the need for environmental protection."
South Korea is pushing to further increase its presence and influence in ASEAN, which has a combined population of almost 600 million and gross domestic product of around 1.3 trillion dollars.
It includes oil producers like Brunei, Indonesia and Malaysia.
Analysts said Seoul's neighbours China and Japan are already ahead in engaging the regional bloc.
South Korea's finance ministry said the country sees ASEAN "as an export market which can offset sluggish markets in developed countries," especially after the global financial crisis.
Apart from exports, ASEAN officials say South Korean companies are expected to benefit from infrastructure spending, which is a major part of government stimulus packages in Southeast Asia.
Seoul will also have better access to the region's massive wealth in natural resources including timber, rubber, oil and gas.
Indonesian Trade Minister Mari Pangestu told AFP in an interview on Monday that her country exports 4-5 billion dollars worth of natural gas to South Korea annually.
It also buys food and fish products as well as footwear, textiles and paper and pulp from Indonesia, she said.
"The investment deal aims to provide protection for investments and investors," South Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade said in a statement.
The ministry expects the agreement will go into effect within a year.
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