South Korea and Singapore should use the pandemic as an opportunity to plan and prepare for the future, the Singaporean ambassador and Herald Corp. chairman said in a meeting on Wednesday.

Singapore Ambassador to Korea Eric Teo paid a courtesy visit to Herald Corp. headquarters in central Seoul where he, The Korea Herald CEO Choi Jin-young and Herald Corp. Chairman Jung Won-ju exchanged views on the emerging trends amid the COVID-19 pandemic, such as education trends, carbon neutrality, diversification of industries and media cooperation between Singapore and Korea.

While media cooperation between Singapore and Korea has strengthened in recent times, there remains plenty of possibilities for further cooperation, Teo said.

Jung stressed on the need for mutual cooperation between media groups of the two countries to create awareness, reach unexplored sectors and create synergy.

Jung said that observing the venture capital and startup engagement of Korean businesses with Singapore, Singapore was a priority destination not only for the infrastructure and service sector but also for technology, AI, big data research, education and tourism.

The ambassador highlighted the high vaccination rate in both Singapore and South Korea that had enabled the ongoing “travel bubble” between the two countries and showed interest to host events to solidify further engagements.

The Singapore-South Korea travel bubble -- a quarantine-free travel partnership between two or more cities or countries with similar levels of COVID-19 cases -- was launched in November.

Jung echoed the ambassador’s views on utilizing the COVID-19 period for planning and preparation for future operations.

The Singaporean Embassy in Seoul and the Herald group can work together to create awareness on carbon neutrality, emerging technologies and new areas of cooperation through the Korea-Singapore Digital Partnership Agreement (KSDPA) that was reached last month, Teo said.

The KSDPA, Singapore’s first agreement with an Asian country on digital trade and partnership, would deepen bilateral cooperation in the digital economy.

The Singaporean ambassador also expressed keen interest on researching new areas with The Korea Herald as part of efforts to better communicate with the public and private sectors.

“Singapore Embassy in Seoul is a link to reach out (to) Singapore,“ he said.