ROK Vice Minister Shin Arrives on Aug 22
Trade, power, ICT to top agenda
First Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade of South Korea Shin Kak-soo will pay a two-day official visit to Bangladesh on August 22-23.
During his visit, Shin will discuss about trade, investment and cooperation in power, information and communications technology (ICT), and science and technology sectors.
Official sources said Shin mainly intends to follow-up on Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's visit to Republic of Korea on May 16-18.
During his visit, Shin is expected to call on Hasina, and will hold bilateral meeting with Foreign Minister Dr Dipu Moni and Foreign Secretary Mohamed Mijarul Quayes.
Bangladesh and Korea enjoy excellent bilateral relations, and South Korea has been supporting Bangladesh in its socio-economic development since the establishment of diplomatic ties in 1973.
As the largest investor in EPZ, South Korea has so far invested more than US $1 billion in Bangladesh that has created jobs for over 1.55 lakh people.
Korean companies are expected to invest $ 1 billion more that will create jobs for 3.5 lakh people in the Korean Export Processing Zones (KEPZ) in Chittagong.
Korean government has assured to increase its official development assistance to Bangladesh by three times by 2015 from the current $1 billion.
As of March this year, 13 soft loan projects worth $ 410 million were provided to Bangladesh while $36 million of grant assistance was extended from 1991 to 2009 through KOICA, a Korean aid agency.
The bilateral trade shows an increasing trend, with the highest amount recorded at $ 1.26 billion in 2008. The trade figure, however, climbed down to $1.18 billion in 2009 with Korean export amounting to $ 1.06 billion and import to $1.22 million.
Shin was appointed first vice minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade in November 2009. Earlier, he was appointed as the second vice minister in July 2008.
During his long diplomatic career, Vice Minister Shin was ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary to the State of Israel, ambassador, and deputy permanent representative, Korean Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York. He discharged his diplomatic assignments in different capacities in Sri Lanka, United States and Japan.
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