Korea, Japan and China explored ways to enhance regional cooperation in trade, investment and people-to-people exchanges, especially in tourism, on the sidelines of a meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in Laos on Jan. 20.

Secretary-General of the ASEAN-Korea Center Chung Hae-moon met with his counterparts Ma Mingqiang of the ASEAN-China Center and Yoshikuni Ohnishi of the ASEAN-Japan Center.

The meeting marked the first such trilateral confab between the ASEAN centers of Japan, China and Korea, and took place at Chung’s initiative on the sidelines of the 12th ASEAN Tourism Forum.

During the meeting, the three secretary-generals explored ways on how the three centers could cooperate to advance the ASEAN Plus Three cooperation.

A follow-up meeting is planned for late March or early April, hosted by the ASEAN-Korea Center in Seoul.

The three ASEAN centers were established to promote trade, investment, tourism, cultural exchanges and education between ASEAN and the “Plus Three” countries ― Korea, China and Japan.

The secretary-generals acknowledged the important role the three centers play in strengthening cooperation between ASEAN and China, Japan and Korea, referring to an official statement issued in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, on Nov. 19, 2012: the “ASEAN Plus Three Leaders’ Joint Statement on the Commemoration of the 15th Anniversary of the ASEAN Plus Three Cooperation.”

It is hoped that the cooperation among the three ASEAN centers will contribute to enhancing the ASEAN Plus Three people-to-people connectivity, and drive a movement toward deeper integration of the ASEAN Plus Three region, the ASEAN-Korea Center said.

The ASEAN-Korea Center was established as an intergovernmental organization in March 2009. It is mandated to increase trade volume, accelerate investment flow, invigorate tourism and enrich cultural exchanges between Southeast Asia and Korea.

By Philip Iglauer (ephilip2011@heraldcorp.com)