South Korea’s third largest conglomerate SK Group is accelerating its expansion in Southeast Asia as part of its global partnership initiative launched by its chairman Chey Tae-won.

According to SK Group on Friday, Chey has embarked on a trip to Singapore and Vietnam on Monday with plans to meet with officials from the government, political, and conglomerate circle as well as entrepreneurs and investors to exchange views on boosting mutual partnership in energy and information and communication technology (ICT) sectors.

Chey’s visit comes as SK Group has been eyeing on Vietnam and Singapore to expand its footprint in the region. It is currently focusing on resource development, petrochemical facility construction, and crude oil trading in the region, but it is actively seeking to add ICT and liquefied natural gas (LNG) value chain. The conglomerate advanced into the two Southeast Asian countries in early 2000.

According to the group, Chey met with Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc at his official residence in Hanoi on Thursday and proposed that SK Group would like to provide support to the Vietnamese government’s future growth initiatives to foster the growth of both Vietnam’s economy and SK Group through forged cooperation. In response, Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen said the role of private entities is becoming ever important for the country to achieve mid- to long-term development and asked SK Group to take part in the government’s plan to speed up privatization of state-run firms.

Chey and Prime Minister Nguyen also exchanged views on boosting globally competitive industries, managing working groups to enhance efficiency in energy industries, and strengthening partnership in the information and communications sector.

In prior to his visit to Vietnam, Chey visited Singapore on Monday and Tuesday and met with a local investor group to discuss the growth outlook of the Southeast Asian region and its overall business environment, the conglomerate said. Chey also met with Anthony Tan, chief executive and co-founder of Grab, a ride hailing service provider dubbed as Uber of Southeast Asia. The two businessmen exchanged views on the future prospect of mobility, shared economy services and discussed possible business partnership.

By Kang Doo-soon and Lee Eun-joo

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