Russia, South Korea To Develop Updated Action Plan On Cooperation In 9 Industries

Russia, South Korea to Develop Updated Action Plan on Cooperation in 9 Industries

Moscow and Seoul agreed to update the joint action plan on the so-called nine bridges initiative that centers on railroad infrastructure, Arctic shipping routes, seaports, gas, electricity, fisheries, labor, agriculture and shipbuilding by the beginning of 2020, the South Korean Presidential Committee on Northern Economic Cooperation said on Friday

SEOUL (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 06th December, 2019) Moscow and Seoul agreed to update the joint action plan on the so-called nine bridges initiative that centers on railroad infrastructure, Arctic shipping routes, seaports, gas, electricity, fisheries, labor, agriculture and shipbuilding by the beginning of 2020, the South Korean Presidential Committee on Northern Economic Cooperation said on Friday.

The ambitious nine-fold cooperation agenda, dubbed Nine Bridges, was launched in 2017 under the initiative of South Korean President Moon Jae-in. Particular attention has been given to the goal of connecting the Trans-Korean Railway to the Trans-Siberian Railway, which would establish a direct cargo route from the Korean Peninsula all the way to Europe across Russia.

At a meeting with Russia's Deputy Economic Development Minister Timur Maksimov, the committee's chairman, Kwon Goo-hoon, suggested that an updated action plan be prepared, which would include the development of financial cooperation in the form of a joint investment fund, as well as technological cooperation within the framework of an innovative platform launched by the two countries last year. The so-called Action Plan 2.0, the adoption of which is planned to coincide with the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries, will have to include areas that would bring tangible results in the near future.

The Russian side, according to a press release, approved the approach, expressing general satisfaction with the results of the visit to South Korea, which made it possible to confirm the mutual goal of strengthening economic cooperation.

During a meeting of the working group on the development of the current action plan, representatives of the two countries discussed the ways of achieving specific results on seven out of the nine "bridges" of cooperation proposed by the South Korean side, with particular attention to health and medicine, as well as the creation of an industrial park in Russia. At the meeting, Maksimov and the deputy head of the committee's secretariat, Chang Sang Cho, who oversees the implementation of the 30 tasks specified in the plan, agreed to adjust and supplement those positions, the implementation of which was stopped or postponed due to the changed conditions.