The ASEAN-Korea Center kicked off its annual council meeting in Seoul to review programs hosted in the fiscal year 2022 and discuss the budget for this year.

Held after 3 years due to the pandemic, the offline meeting was attended by high level officials from governments, academia and the media of 10 ASEAN member countries.

According to the AKC, the annual meeting is significant for ASEAN countries and Korea to bolster international cooperation efforts in the post-COVID era.

The center will play an important role in the ASEAN-Korea partnership against the backdrop of the Korea-ASEAN solidarity initiative (KASI), unveiled by the Korean government in Nov. 2021, and the theme of "ASEAN Matters: The Epicenter of Growth," which Indonesia has adopted as chair of the ASEAN-Korea Summit, said AKC in a press release on Wednesday.

According to the press release, the center completed 20 programs in hybrid formats and carried out programs in late 2022 to get ASEAN-Korea exchanges back on track.