Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc along with President of the Republic of Korea (RoK) Moon Jae-in and leaders of ASEAN members at the ASEAN-RoK Start-up Summit in the Korean city of Busan on Tuesday. — VNA/VNS Photo Thống Nhất

BUSAN —Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc along with President of the Republic of Korea (RoK) Moon Jae-in and leaders of ASEAN members attended the ASEAN-RoK Start-up Summit in the Korean city of Busan on Tuesday. 

Speaking at the event, leaders of ASEAN states said that start-ups and innovation were important to development. 

Each country had policies designed to encourage start-ups, and considered them an important driving force for growth amid the Fourth Industrial Revolution, they said. 

President Moon Jae-in said ASEAN was a dynamic region with 60 per cent of the population aged below 35, making it a key region during the Fourth Industrial Revolution. 

He added that ASEAN and the RoK’s co-ordination to promote start-ups and innovation would contribute to peace and prosperity in the region. 

According to the president, similarities in growth of ASEAN and the RoK had prompted the country to pursue the New Southern Policy. 

The RoK wanted ASEAN countries to set up a start-up ecological system, he said. 

As ASEAN Chair 2019, Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha said ASEAN had stepped up co-operation in start-ups, innovation and links between start-ups via forums towards the goal of sustainable development. 

Participants shared the view that ASEAN and the RoK needed to continue focusing on start-up collaboration to accelerate dynamic, inclusive and sustainable growth, in line with the Joint Vision Statement for Peace, Prosperity and Partnership as well as the 2021-2024 action plan between ASEAN and the RoK. — VNS