South Korean President Moon Jae-in on Tuesday opened the ASEAN summit, aimed at improving economic cooperation which has risen nearly 30-fold in the past 30 years since the founding of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Moon also opened the Korea Summit with countries along the Mekong River at the Busan Exhibition and Convention Center, southeast of Seoul, amid tight security. Before the summit, South Korean President Moon invited his North Korean counterpart Kim Jong-Un to attend the ASEAN summit but was rejected, prompting the Presidential office in South Korea to express their regret as the North Korean leader wasted an opportunity to meet with leaders of the ten countries, as well as the Southern President. The South Korean President held a bilateral summit with the sultan of Brunei, Hassanal Bolkiah, in order to develop the energy and technology industries given the latter’s natural resources. On the sidelines of the ASEAN summit, the ministry stressed that the regional free trade agreement, which called for a “comprehensive partnership” between the ASEAN countries with China, Japan, New Zealand and Australia, will contribute to increasing the volume of investment.

Source: Egypt Independent November 26, 2019 13:41 UTC