8 July 2008 – During a lecture he delivered at the soon-to-be launched ASEAN-Korea Center in Seoul, Ambassador Luis T. Cruz emphasized that the future of ASEAN-Korea relations should be geared towards the further enhancement of cultural understanding and mutual awareness through intensified people-to-people exchanges.

In his lecture entitled “ASEAN-ROK Relations: Present and Future,” Ambassador Cruz noted that mechanisms are already in place in the area of security, trade, and tourism cooperation but a need exists to strengthen ASEAN-Korea socio-cultural cooperation to bridge the cultural gap and develop stronger ties among Korean and Southeast Asian peoples. Ambassador Cruz, who was the Assistant Secretary of ASEAN Affairs in the Department of Foreign Affairs prior to his assignment to Korea, predicted a future for ASEAN and Korea that is characterized by a fusion of cultures based on commonalities of interest, history, experience and a shared vision of an East Asian community. He envisioned the newly created ASEAN-ROK Center to be the driving force in bringing the ASEAN message to the Korean people through its active involvement in activities that promote the ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community and through educational exchanges and outreach programs in local governments in Korea. ASEAN and Korea are dialogue partners and have joint cooperation in the security, economic and socio-cultural spheres. In 2007, the Heads of Government of ASEAN and Korea agreed to establish an ASEAN-Korea Center in Seoul which will help promote trade, culture and tourism in South Korea. ASEAN and Korea will celebrate the 20th anniversary of dialogue relations in 2009. The special lecture was attended by members of the Korean academe; staff members of the Korean Task Force Team of the ASEAN-Korea Center led by Director-General Lee Hyuk and Secretary-General designate Cho Young-jai; and members of the ASEAN Committee in Seoul (ACS) headed by Lao Ambassador Soukthavone Keola, the current ACS chair. Commercial Counselor Gary Garcia, Consul Sylvia M. Marasigan, and Consul Juan E. Dayang, Jr., a member of the sub-committee of the (ACS), joined Ambassador Cruz during the lecture. END.