By Ryu Jin
Korea Times Correspondent


SAN JOSE, Costa Rica _ President Roh Moo-hyun declared South Korea’s determination to join the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI) in a summit with eight nations in the region on Monday, which welcomed Seoul’s entry into the organization.

At the summit, Roh and the Central American leaders agreed to expand ties for more substantial cooperation, especially in the fields of trade and investment, Roh’s aides said.

Those present at the summit included leaders from Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Belize, Panama, Dominican Republic and Costa Rica.

Roh also discussed ways to improve relations and cooperation with the eight Latin American nations, all member states of the Central American Integration System (SICA), set up in 1993 for the political-economic integration of the region.

The area provides a crucial market for South Korea which, with ships, electronic appliances and textiles as its main export items, has a trade surplus of more than $1.8 billion (1.8 trillion won) per year with the region.

Dubbed the ``1+8’’ talks, the South Korea-SICA summit was launched in 1996 as the two sides expanded exchanges and increased cooperation over the past decades.

Some 260 South Korean companies are located in the eight countries, which have about 15,000 Korean residents. Korean investments in the region have reached $350 million, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

The eight Central American nations welcomed South Korea’s determination to take part in the CABEI and called for the expansion of South Korean companies’ investment in the region, said Chung Woo-sung, presidential advisor for foreign policy.

After arriving here Monday on the second leg of his three-nation trip, Roh held meetings with leaders from Guatemala, Nicaragua, Panama and El Salvador.

Guatemalan President Oscar Berger showed keen interest in Roh’s visit to Costa Rica, expressing his satisfaction at a memorandum of understanding (MOU) Costa Rica signed with South Korea on cooperation in the field of information technology (IT).

However, he raised concerns about the trade imbalance between the two nations, while calling for more investment by South Korean firms.

In the following meetings, Roh also discussed measures to strengthen relations with the other nations in the region while groping for ways to promote trade and investment, such as South Korea’s participation in projects to expand canals in Panama and improve Nicaragua’s water supply facilities.

Roh asked the Latin American nations to pay special attention to the joint bid of South and North Korea to host the 2014 Winter Olympics.

jinryu@koreatimes.co.kr