[The Hwankyung Ilbo] The Korea Forest Service successfully held the ‘ASEAN-ROK High-Level Meeting on Forestry’ in Seoul on October 31 to strengthen cooperation in the forest sector between South Korea and the 10 ASEAN countries and share results.

Under the slogan ‘Our Forest for Prosperity and Peace’, the ministers and the vice ministers of the 10 ASEAN countries (Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Vietnam, Brunei, Singapore, Indonesia, Cambodia, Thailand and the Philippines) discussed future forest vision.

Korean and ASEAN forest ministers and vice ministers discussed their achievements and future cooperation, sought common prosperity by utilizing forests, and agreed on the formation of consensus on their contribution to peace through forests.

Recognizing the various benefits that forests have, the countries will find new cooperative projects such as income for local residents, jobs, environmental issues and eco-tourism.

The agenda and declaration of the meeting include people, prosperity and peace, the key elements of the New Southern Policy. It is expected that South Korea will be able to increase its level of cooperation with ASEAN to the level of the U.S., China, Japan, and Russia in the future.

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