S Korea, Malaysia agree to boost industrial cooperation

South Korea and Malaysia on Monday agreed to boost their bilateral industrial cooperation that will strengthen South Korea's trade with not only Malaysia but also other Southeastern Asian nations, the South Korean government said. An agreement was signed here by Hong Suk-woo, Seoul's minister of knowledge economy, and Malaysia's Minister of International Trade and Industry Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed. The latter is on a four-day visit to Seoul on a trade and international investment mission that will end Thursday, the official (Yonhap) news agency reported. The agreement calls for the establishment of at least four working groups that will each deal with a specific area of bilateral trade, such as industrial plants, automobiles and trade-investment policies, according to the Ministry of Knowledge Economy. "Especially, increased cooperation in the field of industrial plants and electronic goods will not only help boost the market share of our companies in Malaysia, but also help create an opportunity to advance into other markets of southeast Asia," it said in a press release. Currently, South Korea is Malaysia's sixth largest trade partner and Malaysia is South Korea's 19th largest. In 2011, bilateral trade between the countries came to US$16.7 billion.