Korea, Peru to broaden economic exchanges: President

Korea, Peru to broaden economic exchanges: President
Apr 20, 2015

President Park Geun-hye, currently on a state visit to Peru, urged on April 18 that Korea and Peru need to expand their range of cooperation, from the existing level of back-and-forth trade to include new emerging industries with higher added-value, such as infrastructure, health and welfare and renewable energy.

In an interview with the Peruvian economic daily Gestion, President Park expressed her hope that through her visit the two countries would bolster investment and people-to-people exchanges between them by signing memoranda of understanding (MOUs) that would cover the creative industries, online government services, cooperation on customs and duties, the healthcare industry and electricity and power generation.

“Through the free trade agreement (FTA), both countries laid the foundation to expand the volume of bilateral trade and investment, as well as the range of economic cooperation. However, cooperation has been focused more on the exchange of goods in which each country has strengths,” she added.

President Park Geun-hye emphasizes the importance of extending bilateral economic cooperation between Korea and Peru in an interview with the Peruvian economic daily Gestion.

President Park emphasized the potential of bilateral cooperation by saying, “Korea and Peru will be able to form an exemplary model of a trading relationship by narrowing the physical and psychological distance through the vitalization of e-trade, industrial cooperation and extending people-to-people exchanges. If both countries can make good use of the FTA network, we can grow as outposts of trade in Asia and in the Americas, respectively.”

“We will be able to find new areas of bilateral cooperation, where Peru needs cooperation and where Korea holds strengths. For example, both countries will be able to cooperate on the modernization of a national affairs management system, infrastructure construction, health and welfare, online government services, development cooperation and so on. I hope to find measures to strengthen cooperation in a substantial manner through our bilateral summit,” said the president.

President Park said, “Korea holds world-leading technology, infrastructure and industrial competitiveness in the information and communications technology (ICT) sector. If the two countries could cooperate on technology development and on fostering human resources, we would be able to advance the overall productivity of other industries based on ICT. We would be also able to create a good cooperation model by creating an ecosystem for business startups through collaboration with research centers, universities and existing enterprises across the region.

By Wi Tack-whan, Yoon Sojung
Korea.net Staff Writers
whan23@korea.kr