1. During his visit to Paris for the OECD Ministerial Council Meeting (MCM), Minister of Foreign Affairs Chung Eui-yong had a meeting with OECD Secretary-General (SG) Mathias Cormann on the morning of October 5.

2. Foreign Minister Chung recognized the active role of the OECD which has exerted efforts to establish high standards in various fields and spread them to the world for the past 60 years. He also supported the SG’s endeavor to innovate the OECD which has been actively made since the SG’s inauguration last June.

° Specifically, Foreign Minister Chung supported the SG’s enthusiasm to make the OECD Secretariat more diverse and in this vein, requested the SG’s continuous efforts to improve the share of Korean staff in the OECD Secretariat.  

° In addition, Foreign Minister Chung conveyed his appreciation to the SG for his decision to participate in the ‘2022 OECD Southeast Asia Regional Program (SEARP) Ministerial Conference’ which is planned to be held in February next year in Seoul and also expressed the confidence that Korea will successfully hold the conference by cooperating with the OECD based on its experiences in implementing the ‘New Southern Policy.’

3. SG Cormann delivered his special thanks to Korea on its contribution, as vice-chair, to preparing this year’s MCM as a quality event.

° From the perspective of reinforcing the cooperation between the OECD members and non-members, specifically Asian countries, he expressed his high expectation on the attendance in the OECD SEARP Ministerial Conference next year and also stressed that the Secretariat will actively support the success of the conference.

° He also recognized that Korea’s response to COVID-19 and economic recovery plans are an example of a well-balanced and successful measure.

° He also stressed the role of the OECD as a coordinator for solving global challenges such as climate change and recovery from COVID-19 and also expected Korea’s meaningful commitment to this role.

4. Foreign Minister Chung explained that Korea has improved the quality of its policies to the international level by partnering with the OECD for the past 25 years. He also stressed that Korea will continue to deepen the cooperation with the OECD and to commit to establishing international norms in emerging fields such as digital economy and climate change.