[Unofficial Translation]

President Joko Widodo,

Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chinh,

Leaders of ASEAN member states,

I want to thank President Joko Widodo for his effort in preparing the ASEAN-related summits and his warm welcome.

Let me also extend my appreciation to Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chinh of Viet Nam, the Country Coordinator for ASEAN-ROK Dialogue Relations, for his extraordinary contributions.

Leaders of ASEAN member countries,

At last year’s summit, I unveiled the Korea-ASEAN Solidarity Initiative. This Initiative is rooted in the Republic of Korea’s firm support for ASEAN Centrality and the ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific. I am pleased that over the past year, the Solidarity Initiative has identified eight high-priority tasks and expanded the scope of cooperation.

During this period, I have continued to make efforts to strengthen ROK-U.S.-Japan cooperation. A new era of trilateral cooperation began with the Camp David summit in August. Based on full support for the ASEAN-led regional architecture, the Republic of Korea, the United States and Japan agreed to coordinate our respective Indo-Pacific strategies and identify new areas of cooperation. To this end, we launched the annual Trilateral Indo-Pacific Dialogue and new Trilateral Maritime Security Cooperation Framework to support the maritime security capabilities of ASEAN and Pacific Island countries.

Your Excellencies,

The Republic of Korea rose from the ruins of war and emerged as a developed country in just half a century. We aim to share our development experiences with many maritime countries, including ASEAN, and a number of our neighbors through the World Expo 2030 in Busan. Moreover, we intend to provide a platform to jointly seek solutions to the challenges facing humanity.

Busan is also a city that hosted the ASEAN-ROK Commemorative Summit twice, in 2014 and 2019. I believe the ASEAN leaders here are familiar with the city, too.

I ask for your interest and support so that Busan can once again contribute to building a better future for the Indo-Pacific region and all of humanity worldwide.

Let us move forward together toward mutual prosperity for the Republic of Korea and ASEAN.

Thank you.