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Others [Press Releases] Third ASEAN-ROK Think Tank Strategic Dialogue Department IFANS Uploaded by 연구행정과 Upload Date 2021.11.25 Hits 103101
1. On November 11, 2021, the Korea National Diplomatic Academy (KNDA) held the “Third ASEAN-ROK Think Tank Strategic Dialogue”※ on the topic of “The New Southern Policy and ASEAN-ROK Partnership: Looking Back and Moving Forward.”

​    ※ The ASEAN-ROK Think Tank Strategic Dialogue was launched as a new track 2.0 channel of communication and exchanges for foreign policy experts between South Korea and ASEAN on the occasion of the 2019 ASEAN-ROK Commemorative Summit.


    o The participants from Seoul and ASEAN interacted through videoconferencing arranged due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The list of participants includes: KNDA Chancellor HONG Hyunik; Director-General Ambassador Mai SAYAVONGS of IFA, Lao PDR; Executive Director Ambassador Pou SOTHIRAK of CICP; Professor Thitinan PONGSUDHIRAK of ISIS-Thailand, Chair of ASEAN-ISIS Network; Professor CHOE Wongi, Head of Center for ASEAN-Indian Studies (KNDA); and other experts from ASEAN-ISIS think tanks. In addition, Director-General CHUNG Eui-hae of Bureau of ASEAN and Southeast Asian Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of ROK, participated as a special guest and made a presentation on the achievements of the New Southern Policy over the past four years and engaged in discussions with ASEAN experts.

2. Experts from the Korean and ASEAN-ISIS think tanks discussed the evolving strategic dynamics in the Indo-Pacific, reflections on the New Southern Policy’s role in advancing the ASEAN-ROK Partnership, and prospects for future developments.

    o  KNDA Chancellor HONG Hyunik underscored in his opening remarks that the ROK and ASEAN need close cooperation more than ever because of the imperative to deal with unprecedented common challenges such as rapid geopolitical risks from the intensifying US-China strategic rivalry, climate change, rapid digitalization, and the supply-chain crisis, etc.

      - Chancellor Hong noted that South Korea and ASEAN need to closely cooperate and secure a new strategic space to respond to geopolitical challenges and risks from the US-China conflict, emphasizing the importance of maintaining the momentum of the New Southern Policy and ROK-ASEAN partnership in the future.

    o  ASEAN-ISIS Chair Thitinan Pongsudhirak pointed out that the ASEAN centrality is increasingly becoming “hollow” due to the new challenges, such as the Myanmar coup and the creation of AUKUS - a new trilateral security arrangement among the US, the UK, and Australia, stressing that ASEAN needs to find a way out through cooperation with a responsible middle power such as ROK.

​    o  Director-General CHUNG Eui-hae shared her perspective on the progresses that New Southern Policy (NSP) has made over the past four years, and pointed out that ROK-ASEAN relations have now entered a stage of comprehensive cooperation. In particular, Director-General Chung underscored that both ASEAN and ROK now share a common understanding of the positive outcomes that the NSP has brought about and that we need to make efforts to keep a forward momentum to continuously pursue the NSP in the future.

      - Director-General Chung also noted that the achievements of the NSP have been accumulated in particular in such areas as public health cooperation, trade and investments, and people-to-people exchanges, and that South Korea will continue to cooperate with ASEAN in new areas such as climate change, the Fourth Industrial Revolution, and digital transformation.

3.  ASEAN experts assessed that Korea’s NSP has provided an essential driving force for strengthening and expanding the ROK-ASEAN partnership over the past four years, and stressed the need for continued efforts to help both South Korea and ASEAN evolve into more reliable economic, diplomatic and security cooperation partners in the future.

    o  At Session 1, participants from South Korea and ASEAN discussed the changing strategic environment, including US-China strategic competition in the Indo-Pacific region, the rise of new minilateral arrangements such as Quad and AUKUS, and the development of regional trade blocks such as the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) and the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).

    o At Session 2, participants evaluated the NSP and ROK-ASEAN bilateral cooperation over the past four years, and presented various policy recommendations to maintain momentum for the NSP and strengthen the ROK-ASEAN partnership in the future.

4. The ASEAN-ROK strategic dialogue served as a useful platform for ROK and ASEAN experts to share their perspectives on the NSP that the incumbent Korean government has enthusiastically pursued, and to explore various policy measures to strengthen ASEAN-ROK cooperation in the days ahead.
 
    ※ The eleven institutions that have agreed to participate in the Dialogue are as follows:
 - Lao PDR: Institute of Foreign Affairs (IFA)
 - Malaysia: Institute for Strategic and International Studies (ISIS Malaysia)
 - Myanmar: Myanmar Institute for Strategic and International Studies (MISIS)
 - Brunei: Brunei Darussalam Institute of Policy and Strategic Studies (BDIPSS)
 - Vietnam: Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam (DAV)
 - Singapore: Singapore Institute of International Affairs (SIIA)
 - Indonesia: Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS Indonesia)
 - Cambodia: Cambodian Institute for Cooperation and Peace (CICP)
 - Thailand: Institute of Security and International Studies (ISIS Thailand)
 - Philippines: Asia Pacific Pathways to Progress Foundation Inc. (APPFI)
 - ROK: Korea National Diplomatic Academy (KNDA)
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