Mr. Co-chair,
Excellencies and distinguished delegates,

It is my great pleasure to join all of you as Foreign Minster of the Republic of Korea.

I extend my gratitude to Deputy Minister Do Hung Viet for his leadership as Country Coordinator.

I wish to take a moment to extend my deepest condolences on the passing of His Excellency Nguyen Phu Trong, General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam.

I also like to warmly welcome Minister Bendito dos Santos Freitas of Timor Leste to this meeting.

Excellencies and colleagues,

The past 35 years of ASEAN-ROK dialogue relations have been a history of enhancing connectivity and resilience across all three pillars: physical, institutional, and people-to-people.

Let me elaborate on the progress made over the last few years in each of the three pillars.

First, physical connectivity.

The ROK has actively contributed to reshaping ASEAN’s infrastructure landscape, through its bilateral ODA and sub-regional cooperation initiatives.

In particular, the ROK stands as ASEAN’s proud partner in building digital highways.

Its Digital Innovation Flagship project worth 30 million USD will be a keystone to create digital and AI ecosystem in the region.

Second, institutional connectivity.

The ROK has been an essential partner of ASEAN in building and upgrading institutional frameworks that facilitate regional trade and investment.

ASEAN is the first regional entity with which the ROK signed an FTA.

As both members of RCEP and IPEF, we are working together to strengthen supply chain resilience.

Third, people-to-people connectivity.

ASEAN continues to remain a top travel destination for Koreans, and the ROK is the second most-preferred destination for ASEAN citizens.

ASEAN students, who comprise 41% of foreign students in the ROK, will go on to help spearhead their own nations’ future, and serve as bridges between ASEAN and the ROK.

In sports, Korean coaches currently lead numerous national sports teams of ASEAN countries.

Excellencies and colleagues,

In October, we are going to upgrade our relationship to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership (CSP) to mark the 35th anniversary of our dialogue relations.

As a soon-to-be CSP partner of ASEAN, the ROK is committed to more meaningful, substantive and mutually beneficial relations for another generation to come.

We will continue to stand as a faithful supporter for ASEAN Centrality and Unity and the ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific.

With that in mind, I look forward to a fruitful exchange of views today on the way forward.

Thank you, Mr. Co-chair.