Asian nations seek to boost cooperation in legislation

Delegates from Asian countries listen to a speech on the opening day of the Asian Forum of Legislative Information Affairs at KINTEX in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province, Wednesday. About 1,500 delegates including justice ministers and other key legislation experts from 20 Asian countries attended the conference to nurture co-prosperity through advanced legislation. / Yonhap

Over 1,500 delegates, including justice ministers and legal experts from 20 Asian countries kicked off a three-day forum in Korea on Wednesday to strengthen cooperation in legislation.

The Ministry of Government Legislation is hosting the Asian Forum of Legislative Information Affairs at KINTEX in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province.

The event is designed to share experiences and know-how for co-prosperity within Asia through advanced legislation.

“Asia is now dynamically undergoing more rapid changes than any other continent and also it’s shifting fast to be the center of global politics and economics,” Prime Minister Kim Hwang-sik said in his opening speech to the forum.

“However, such positive trends do not guarantee the era of Asia. In order for Asia’s era to come about, legislation institutions and systems in Asian countries must be more stable and more predictable.

“If that’s the case, trust in the international society will be established and investment from international communities will be stable. And all of these are enabled by a legislative system.”

Jeong Sun-tae, minister of government legislation, also echoed Kim’s view in his speech.

“The first forum saw the vision materialize through sharing legislative expertise and experiences and strengthening legislative changes and cooperation between participating countries.”

The forum this year deals with the development of economy and society through active interaction with legislation. Such agendas were set in February by liaison officials around Korea’s legislation cases, on which a number of participating countries have shown interest.

“The delegates have credited our legal system as a driving force for the country to become a donor country from an aid-dependent nation,” the ministry said in its press release.

The first-day’s session focused on the development of Korea’s legislation on the economy for the past 60 years and the challenges it faces with rapid changes in Asia. Local lawyers and officials from the state-run Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency gave talks on what kind of difficulties local companies faced in their investments in China, Burma, Indonesia, and other parts of the continent. They also discussed how countries can cooperate for co-prosperity.

The forum also discussed Korea’s active utilization of information technology that provides citizens with legislative services, such as e-government. Forum attendees also saw how Korea works on its legal system to create better living circumstances for foreign immigrant workers, a number of who are from Southeast Asia. <The Korea Times/Yi Whan-woo>

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