Your Excellency, Minister Gong Ro-Myung, and the Distinguished members of the Korean delegation, it is an honor for me to welcome you to this PMC 7+1 Meeting of the ASEAN-Korea Dialogue which the Philippines has the privilege of coordinating.

ASEAN places great value on its dialogue relations with the Republic of Korea, Korea being the first former developing country to become an ASEAN dialogue partner. Our affinity a,, Asians and the causes Korea once espoused to advance the interests of developing countries have cultivated a distinct relationship between our Governments and peoples. A relationship of confraternity and political like- mindedness.

Your Excellency, on behalf of my ASEAN colleagues, allow me to convey our thanks for hosting last June the Second ASEAN-ROK Dialogue and for the hospitality extended to ASEAN delegations. I also wish to express our appreciation for the positive outcome of that dialogue, paticularly in the five priority areas proposed by ASEAN for its dialogue relations with your county.

In last June's dialogue, ASEAN gave top priority to the establishment of a, ASEAN Promotion Center on Culture, Information and Tourism in Seoul. It ill be the first of its kind in ASEAN's relations with other dialogue partners.

ASEAN has chosen Korea for this purpose because of our common economic experiences. The center will manifest the solid foundation of an enduring relationship that underpins our economic and political cooperation. The proposed center should not be gauged only from the usual cost-benefit approach; it should also be seen through the prism of people- oriented development. ASEAN looks forward to this cooperative undertaking to complement our existing economic and development cooperation.

The second ASEAN-ROK dialogue also addressed our trade relations, investment, and cooperation in science and technology and in human resources development. Although no concrete cooperative arrangement was reached at our last dialogue on these priority concerns of ASEAN, the outstanding achievement of that dialogue as the formal recognition extended by Your Excellency's Government to the ASEAN Committee in Seoul (ACS), which will see as ASEAN's official focal point in Korea.

The importance of the ACS as a mechanism for consultation and negotiation with concerned Korean Ministries and Agencies on behalf of ASEAN can be discerned from the vantage points of timeliness, proximity with decision-makers, and permanence. This novel coordinating mechanism is the first agreed upon with an ASEAN dialogue partner. Consultations need not be carried out in Manila, as the Philippines is the present Country-Coordinator, but right in the heart of Seoul, thus, saving time and costs. We propose that Your Excellency's Government use fully the presence of the ACS, particularly in the broad areas of cooperation agreed upon at the Second Dialogue in Seoul.

ASEAN has taken due note of the wish which You, Excellency's Government has expressed to broaden the scope of our dialogue to include political and security issues. In the ASEAN Regional Forum, ASEAN has been privileged to benefit from ROK's views on regional political and security issues. ASEAN looks forward to a more precise discussion of this matter.

ASEAN watches with profound interest the developments in the Korean Peninsula. We are gratified over the US-DPRK talks particularly ROK'S interest in these talks. DPRK's acceptance of rice shipments, as outright grants, from ROK as well as from Japan may signal a positive political development. For this reason, ASEAN desires to know about the latest ROK-DPRK relations and possibly the direction of the inter-Korea talks and the prospects for integration or unification.

Most of the ASEAN Member Countries have announced their contributions to the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization (KEDO) as a manifestation of ASEAN's interest in and partnership for the stability of the Korean Peninsula in particular and hopefully for the denuclearization of North east Asia in general. ASEAN would be thankful if ROK could give an update on the outcome of the last KEDO Meeting in New York.

In closing, I would like to speak on behalf of my colleagues in reaffirming its readiness to enhance its relations with Your Excellency's Government in the broad areas of social, economic and political cooperation.