Sri Lanka, Korea economic cooperation sound

Ties strengthened under President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s guidance:

Rasika SOMARATHNA

Bilateral relations between Sri Lanka and South Korea dates back to 1968 when South Korea opened a trade mission in Colombo. These relations further expanded in 1977 when the Republic of Korea opened its embassy in Colombo. Sri Lanka’s Ambassador in Japan was concurrently accredited to Seoul in 1978. The first Sri Lankan resident embassy in Seoul was opened in 1987. Since then the two countries have continuously developed strong ties in a variety of fields.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa	President of South Korea Lee Myung-Bak

Economic cooperation between the two countries has been always sound. Korea has been the largest foreign investor in Sri Lanka up to the mid-2000s. Over the last few years more than 23,000 young Sri Lankan workers have contributed to the development of the Korean economy, working in small and medium-sized companies. Their employment in Korea has also supplemented the growth of the Sri Lankan economy. The number of Sri Lankan workers in Korea keeps growing with over 9,000 more workers expected to arrive in the country during the year 2012.

Socio-economic ties

The sending of Sri Lankan workers to Korea started under an initiative mooted by President Mahinda Rajapaksa during his tenure as the Labour Minister in the early 1990s. Today Sri Lanka has risen to be among the top three labour sending countries to Korea.

During the time a number of Korean companies came to Sri Lanka and many fruitful economic initiatives began for the advantage of both the countries. Socio-economic ties between the two countries have expanded under the guidance of President Rajapaksa.

His forthcoming visit to Korea is expected to further boost relations. “President Mahinda Rajapaksa has deep and long-standing relations with Korea. The dispatch of Sri Lankan workers to Korea started under his initiative when he was the Labour Minister in the early 1990s. He also helped Korean companies come to Sri Lanka and settle down without difficulties.

Korean companies

“Korean investors here are appreciative of his guidance and assistance. Back in 2005, he made a bilateral visit to Korea in his capacity as Prime Minister and agreed on various joint projects with our government. It is my wish that President Rajapaksa visits Korea again soon, which I believe will help uplift our relations to a higher plane,” said Korean Ambassador in Sri Lanka Jongmoon Choi in an interview with the ‘Daily News’, some time back.

External Affairs Minister Prof. G L Peiris made a visit to Korea last September after a lapse of five years and was followed by many Ministers, Secretaries and Parliamentarians.

They successfully drew the attention of the Korean private sector to the potential of this island, the Ambassador adds. There is a new wave of Korean companies in Sir Lanka and most of them are household names. They work on various projects in cooperation with their local partners.

Meanwhile Sri Lanka’s exports to South Korea too have increased from USD 18.04 million in 2004 to USD 45.05 in 2011. Coconut fibre, rubber products, and knitted and woven garments are the major export items to Korea and the value of these items altogether has constituted 36.7 percent of total exports in 2011. Other export items from Sri Lanka to Korea are rubber products, furniture, mattresses, tea, tableware and activated carbon.

Development projects

Trade between Korea and Sri Lanka stands over US $ 430 million. There has been $ 730 million investment from Korea for many sectors including the $ 3 million investment in the country’s first solar power plant in Hambantota. There is room for wider cooperation as Sri Lanka is making efforts to take the country to the next level.

Sri Lanka and Korea expects to expand the official development cooperation over the next few years and support development projects in the areas of renewable energy, capacity-building and infrastructure.

Ambassador Choi says “Korea will support and work with Sri Lanka to achieve economic development, reconciliation and transparency in a steady and patient manner. Given its size and history, the experience of Korea is relevant to Sri Lanka. We will sincerely share our experiences, with Sri Lanka.”

Culture and lifestyle

Not only in the economic sector both countries also enjoy close ties in the social and cultural spheres. The embassy organizes many events. They organize music and drama concerts in collaboration with local stakeholders.

The Korean Language Speech contest, the Korea Cup Taekwondo Championship are two other activities. In October 2011 the goodwill visit of the two Korean Navy Ships to Colombo Port also took place.

Members of the Korean broadcasting company MBC also visited Sri Lanka recently and for the first time, made a documentary film about KOICA (Korea International Cooperation Agency) activities in Sri Lanka which also highlighted the many development activities taking place in the country since the dawn of the new era of peace.

The embassy has also organized a Korean Film Festival to help Sri Lankans to become familiar with the Korean culture and lifestyle.

President Rajapaksa’s visit to Korea is important in another sense as it happens at a time when Sri Lanka strives to accelerate the process for economic reconstruction and national reconciliation after emerging from the devastation of nearly three decades of terrorism.

Ambassodor Choi says “as the economy of Sri Lanka thrives, and its society flourishes, relations between the two countries will surely be taken to the next level”. Like Sir Lanka, the Korean war devastated the country in the early 1950s.

Korea was literally at the bottom of the heap in Asia. Rising from this devastation, Korea today has not only gained recognition as a giant in Asia, but has become a powerhouse on the global stage in the socio-economic field.

Korea today has a market economy which ranks 15th in the world by nominal GDP and 12th by purchasing power parity (PPP), identifying it as one of the G-20 major economies.

It is a high-income developed country, with a developed market.

South Korea had one of the world’s fastest growing economies from the early 1960s to the late 1990s, and is still one of the fastest growing developed countries in the 2000s.