Think tanks from South Korea and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations(ASEAN) launched a dialogue channel in the areas of economy and trade.

According to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy on Friday, the ASEAN-South Korea Think Tank Dialogue on Economic and Trade Policy(AKTD) held its inaugural meeting in Indonesia's Jakarta the previous day.

The AKTD is a government-civilian cooperative economic policy research project jointly led by the Korea Institute for Industrial Economics and Trade and the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry(KCCI).

Seoul proposed the project at the 25th ASEAN-Korea Summit last October.

Speaking at the inaugural session, Kim Jong-chul, the ministry's director-general for international trade relations, anticipated the AKTD to become a leading policy platform for the two sides' economic cooperation, and contribute to ASEAN's balanced economic development.

He expressed hope that the dialogue will help create a synergy by uniting South Korea's experience in establishing an industrial development policy and the Southeast Asian countries' growth potential.