Korean President Moon Jae-in (L) and Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad at their meeting in Kuala Lumpur on March 13 (Photo: Yonhap/VNA)Hanoi (VNA) - The Republic of Korea (RoK) and Malaysia onMarch 13 agreed to launch negotiations toward a bilateral free trade agreement(FTA) and push for their conclusion before the end of this year.
The agreement was reached at a meeting in Kuala Lumpur between visitingKorean President Moon Jae-in and Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad,during which they discussed ways to expand the countries' cooperation andexchanges.
The two leaders agreed to push for a bilateral FTA to create aninstitutional framework that will help further expand the bilateral trade andinvestment ties, and to try to declare the conclusion of negotiations at thespecial RoK-ASEAN summit at the end of the year by moving forward theirnegotiations with speed, Moon's presidential office Cheong Wa Dae said.
Following the summit, Moon and Mahathir witnessed the signing of fournew memoranda of understanding on cooperation which call for increased collaborationin the manufacturing industry and the transportation sector, as well ascooperation in developing new smart cities and halal-certified hallyu products.
Bilateral trade between the RoK and Malaysia is also on the steady rise,increasing by 14.9 percent to 19.2 billion USD last year from 16.7 billion USDthe year before, according to Cheong Wa Dae.
Malaysia is the second stopover in Moon’s tour of three Southeast Asiacountries. Earlier, the Korean President visited Brunei and is scheduled tomake a trip to Cambodia later.-VNA
VNA
