The leaders of South Korea and Singapore on Wednesday agreed to strengthen business collaboration in advancing into Southeast Asian infrastructure markets and to boost cooperation in the biomedical sector.

During their summit in Seoul, President Park Geun-hye and Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong also agreed on the need to capitalize on each other’s strengths to yield a synergic effect in making joint business advances into other countries.

Lee arrived here on Tuesday for a three-day visit. It is Lee’s first visit to South Korea since 2009, when Seoul hosted a special summit with the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

“We have things in common. Our two countries lack natural resources, but based on our outstanding human resources, we have achieved economic growth,” said Park. “We now face the common task of new economic development based on creation and innovation.”

Lee echoed Park’s view, expressing hopes that the two countries will work closely together to address current challenges facing each other.

Seoul believes that the two countries’ joint efforts to develop infrastructure in the ASEAN countries could help accelerate the region’s push for enhanced physical “connectivity,” in order to ensure co-development and co-prosperity.

Singapore is South Korea’s sixth-largest trading partner, with two-way trade at $32.6 billion in 2012. A free trade agreement between the two countries went into effect in 2006.

By Song Sang-ho (sshluck@heraldcorp.com)