"The talks will focus on how to improve the already excellent bilateral ties and expand further trade and economic cooperation as many potential areas remain untapped," newly appointed South Korean Ambassador Suk-Bum Park said in an interview with the news agency yesterday.

Iftekhar Chowdhury who leaves here on June 2 on a four-day visit to Seoul will meet Foreign and Trade Minister Song Min-soon as well as the South Korean labour minister and sign a MoU on exporting Bangladeshi workforce to Korea.

Ambassador Park said signing of the MoU would allow Bangladeshi workers to get jobs in Korea legally. Recruitment of Bangladeshi workers in Korea has been banned for the last five years.

Earlier this week it was revealed that under South Korean rules there is a provision to recruit 10,000 workers.

However replying to a question yesterday, the envoy said if intelligent and hard-working Bangladeshis could be found and who meet the requirements of Korean companies, the 10,000 figure may be exceeded.

Korea needs workers for its small and medium enterprises, construction sites and service sectors, and the number of foreign workers there ranges from 200,000 to 300,000.

The ambassador said presently around 12,000 Bangladeshi workers are working in Korea, but 80 percent of them are overstaying and working illegally. He said if the illegal workers voluntarily return home respecting the Korean immigration laws, they would get reemployment opportunity in Korea.

After signing of the MoU, Bangladeshi workers will enjoy the benefit of working legally like those from Thailand, Vietnam, Uzbekistan, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, China and Cambodia.

About Dhaka-Seoul economic cooperation, the ambassador said Korea has been pioneer in bringing its RMG industrial units to Bangladesh as wages in his country have gone too high.

"We need to outsource and move our industry elsewhere and Bangladesh is our chosen country for replacement of our industries," he said, adding that Korea is helping Bangladesh to upgrade its textile industry and help compete in the world market.

Asked how to reduce the huge trade surplus being enjoyed by Korea, the envoy said his country has already provided duty-free access of 290 Bangladeshi products under the Bangkok Agreement.

He said the Bangladeshi entrepreneurs need to double their efforts to make their products familiar to potential importers and consumers in Korea.

The Korean envoy said his country's annual import stands at US$ 300 billion and Bangladesh could take a share of it by diversifying its products and popularising those items in the Koran market.

According to statistics, Bangladesh's export to Korea was a paltry US$ 42.58 million against its import of worth US$ 471.74 million in fiscal 2005-06.

Major Bangladeshi exports include leather, woven garments, chemical fertiliser and raw jute while import items include machinery, mechanical appliances, base metals, pulp of wood, textiles and plastic articles.