BUSAN ― President Park Geun-hye intensified her summit diplomacy with the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations Thursday as she held talks with the leaders of six ASEAN states to bolster strategic cooperation.

On the sidelines of the ASEAN-Korea Commemorative Summit here, Park held bilateral meetings with the leaders of Myanmar, Indonesia, Laos, Thailand, the Philippines and Singapore as her government strives to court the regional bloc for its economic and political potential.

During a summit with Indonesian President Joko Widodo, Park proposed resuming the stalled negotiations of the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement, a bilateral trade liberalization deal.

“I hope that we can gather our wisdoms together for a win-win result by promptly resuming the negotiations (of the CEPA),” Park was quoted as saying by Cheong Wa Dae.

President Widodo, in turn, said that with the three pillars of market, investment and economic cooperation in mind, we should work together to promote mutual interests, and the two sides would be able to resume their trade talks.

The CEPA is similar to a free trade agreement and puts much emphasis on bilateral economic cooperation on top of market opening. Seoul already has an FTA with ASEAN, but has sought to ink the CEPA with Indonesia to increase the level of trade liberalization.

Since July 2012, two sides had been in talks over the CEPA, through which it wants to export more cars, and environmental and petrochemical products to the country. Jakarta has reportedly focused more on bolstering investment and industrial cooperation with Seoul through the deal.

With a population of 237 million, the resource-rich Southeast Asian country is the largest economy in the ASEAN region, and seen as having great growth potential ― a reason why regional powers have been pursuing deeper ties with it.

Earlier in the day, Park met with Myanmar President Thein Sein and discussed ways to enhance cooperation in trade, investment, energy and resource development and construction of infrastructure including ports.

Park and Thein Sein jointly led this week’s special multilateral summit. The Myanmar president has assumed the rotating chair of ASEAN this year for the first time since joining the regional group in 1997.

During their talks, Park asked her Myanmar counterpart to help address problems facing Korean firms operating in Myanmar. The firms have been complaining of difficulties securing a stable supply of electricity and affordable land for their facilities, and banking issues stemming from the absence of Korean financial institutions in the Southeast Asian state.

Park also sought Thein Sein’s support for Korean firms’ participation in various state projects to develop energy and mineral resources, and construct ports and other large-scale infrastructure for which Korean firms can share their development know-how.

The Myanmar leader expressed his appreciation of Seoul’s support in his country’s projects to develop rural areas and urged Korean firms including small and medium enterprises to continue to increase their investment in Myanmar.

During her talks with Philippines President Benigno Aquino III, Park expressed her gratitude for his participation at the summit despite the damage from Typhoon Hagupit that struck the country’s eastern coast last Saturday.

Park also offered her deep condolences to the people of the Philippines for the victims in the sinking of a fishing trawler with 13 Filipino sailors, her office said. Aquino expressed his appreciation for Seoul’s disaster relief support.

In her summit with Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha, Park stressed that Thailand played a crucial role in support during the 1950-53 Korean War by sending troops from its three armed services. The Thai prime minister expressed his wish to deepen the bilateral strategic partnership and call for more business investment into his country.

Later in the day, Park discussed bilateral cooperation also in trade, business and other areas of mutual concern with Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Laotian Prime Minister Thongsing Thammavong.

Under the main theme of “Building Trust and Bringing Happiness,” the ASEAN-Korea summit seeks to chart a future direction for the evolving relationship between the two sides. ASEAN is Korea’s second-largest trading partner and third-largest investment destination.

ASEAN’s strategic importance has been growing as it is pushing to launch an economic community next year. It will have a population of 640 million and gross domestic product of $3 trillion.

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