I

am highly honored to be back in Jakarta after 18 years now as 10 ASEAN member states are gearing up to realize their long-awaited vision of an ASEAN Community at the end of 2015.

Indeed, Dec. 31, 2015 is going to be a historic milestone, as this integrated region will attract more foreign capital investment with its robust economic growth, primarily driven by its competitive young workforce and soon-to-be discovered potential.

At the 48th ASEAN Foreign Ministers'€™ Meeting and the related foreign ministers'€™ meetings in Kuala Lumpur, the ASEAN Community was the main agenda item for discussion. The leaders exchanged common views regarding ASEAN economic growth this year, which is impressive in comparison to the lackluster performance of other regions. ASEAN has seen substantial achievements in the region'€™s economic integration efforts, as its economy is projected to rank as the world'€™s fourth largest economy by 2020 by sustaining 5 percent economic growth a year on average.

Taking into account these positive figures in the time of global slowdown, economists and regional experts often refer to these coming years as the '€œASEAN Century'€ or '€œASEAN Rising'€. This is considered an unprecedented opportunity, as ASEAN'€™s ever-growing global competitiveness is propelling this region into an ideal destination for more investment.

Since the ASEAN Economic Community blueprint targets to build ASEAN as a production-based single market, this enduring vision of a dynamic and integrated economy is going to attract even more foreign direct investment (FDI) into the market. China used to be the world'€™s factory and the dream of all multinational companies as the hub of the world'€™s manufacturing industry. Now, the growing competition due to increased labor costs in China has convinced a number of the multinational companies, including Korean companies, to turn their gaze southward to the 10 dynamic markets of ASEAN.

Looking back in history, ASEAN and Korea started their dialogue and relations in 1989. Korea has sought many ways to build and strengthen the strategic cooperation in various fields with ASEAN for the last 26 years. With concerted efforts on both sides, ASEAN-Korea economic relations have been more intimate than ever, as proven in statistics.

In 2014, the trade volume between ASEAN and Korea reached US$138 billion and ASEAN is Korea'€™s second largest trading partner while Korea is the fifth largest trading partner to ASEAN. Korea is the second largest investor to ASEAN after the US, being the seventh largest foreign direct investor to ASEAN overall. In addition, ASEAN is the most popular destination for Korean tourists, and for ASEAN citizens, Korea is the third most visited destination. All this is a testament to the commitment of both sides to deepen interregional economic integration.

In order to affirm and renew this close relationship between ASEAN and Korea, Korea hosted the Commemorative Summit celebrating the 25th anniversary of the friendship last December. The Commemorative Summit between ASEAN and Korea convened successfully and was attended by all ASEAN leaders, including President Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo.

ASEAN and Korean leaders adopted the '€œJoint Statement of the ASEAN-ROK Commemorative Summit on the 25th Anniversary of the ASEAN-ROK Dialogue Relations: Our Future Vision of the ASEAN-ROK Strategic Partnership '€˜Building Trust, Bringing Happiness'€™'€. Under the adopted joint statement, the relationship between the two was upgraded to a more strategic and cooperative level, while defining once again our mutual objective of shared peace in the political-security field, shared prosperity in the economy and shared progress in sociocultural pillars.

At the summit, the ASEAN and Korean leaders agreed on a number of deliverables that can lead to a deeper friendship. By enlarging the implementation of the ASEAN-Korea Free Trade Agreement (AKFTA), we move forward to extend our current trade volume to $200 billion by 2020.

In addition, to increase awareness of diverse ASEAN culture, Korea'€™s idea of establishing the ASEAN Culture House in Busan was welcomed by the ASEAN leaders. The ASEAN Culture House will serve as a major backbone, or even a Mecca, for ASEAN-Korea cooperation on social and cultural fronts. We are hopeful that the Culture House will bring the people of ASEAN and Korea even closer, on the basis of profound understanding of each other'€™s cultures. The opening of this house in 2017 coincides with the year of ASEAN-Korea Cultural Exchange, as well as the 50th anniversary of the founding of ASEAN.

As aforementioned, ASEAN is receiving remarkable public attention from the media to politics, since an ambitious ASEAN Community is on its final spurt to cross the finish line.

I believe building the ASEAN Community is an ongoing process. Simply speaking, we can compare this process to that of building a house. To build a house, you need to lay down a firm and solid foundation. What follows is a painstaking bottom-up process. You must assemble small pieces, build walls brick by brick, decorate and then maintain what you have constructed. In this effort-driven process, the role of Indonesia, as the biggest member state, is crucial. I believe Indonesia has taken its lead as a big brother to galvanize the momentum of all ASEAN member states to cooperate on the realization of the ASEAN Community.

At the last Post-Ministerial Conference (PMC)+1 on Aug. 5, the country coordinator for Korea was handed over from Indonesia to Cambodia. For the last three years of working together with Indonesia, Korea has experienced cooperative and efficient working relations and I firmly believe that Indonesia'€™s role within ASEAN, as first among equals, will be crucial in moving ASEAN forward.

It is in this context that Korea, as a true friend of ASEAN, will actively participate and make practical contributions toward ASEAN'€™s institutional architecture for economic and financial integration. We will do our utmost to ensure substantive and concrete support for the launch of the ASEAN Community and beyond.
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The writer is Korean Ambassador to ASEAN.