President Yoon Suk Yeol on the morning of Sept. 12 speaks at the 38th Cabinet meeting at the Office of the President in Seoul's Yongsan-gu District. (Kang Min Seok from the Office of the President)

By Yoon Seungjin

President Yoon Suk Yeol on Sept. 12 shared the results of his recent trips to Indonesia and India from Sept. 5-11 to attend summits of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the Group of 20 (G20) economies.

"I attended a combined 33 breathtaking diplomatic and economic events including six multilateral and 20 bilateral meetings," he told the 38th Cabinet meeting at the Office of the President in Seoul's Yongsan-gu District.

"India, the chair country of the G20 Summit, and Indonesia, the chair country of recent ASEAN summits, are core partners in the Indo-Pacific region given their young and energetic populations and vast markets," the president said. "The Indo-Pacific region is a key market that our companies are emphasizing the most and preparing to enter."

"Our country has one of the world's most externally dependent economies, so we must travel to foreign markets like it's our living room to revitalize the economy and create quality jobs," he added. "This is why exports and overseas corporate expansion are crucial."

On the results of his summit with Indonesian President Joko Widodo, President Yoon said, "We decided to actively utilize the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement between Korea and Indonesia, which took effect early this year, to expand bilateral trade and investment and signed 22 memorandums of understanding on cooperation in various fields such as core minerals, low-emission vehicles and nuclear power plants."

Turning to his talks with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the president said, "Beyond investment cooperation in traditional manufacturing sectors like automobiles, we discussed in depth plans for such collaboration in high-tech industries like electric vehicles and the digital and green sectors as well as space cooperation."

"During this trip, Chinese Premier Li Qiang and Japanese Prime Minister Kishida expressed their support for resuming a trilateral summit of Korea, China and Japan," he added. "As the chair country, Korea will actively promote the trilateral summit."

On his talks with Premier Li in Jakarta, Indonesia, President Yoon said, "Because Korea and China have both strongly supported multilateralism and free trade, I proposed working together to build an international order based on the norms that underlie them." 

scf2979@korea.kr