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1. Deputy Minister for Economic Affairs Lee Seong-ho attended the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Third Senior Officials’ Meeting (SOM) held in a virtual format from August 31 (Tue) to September 3 (Fri). Deputy Minister Lee and other partners from the member economies discussed the COVID-19 response, economic recovery measures, and ways to enhance cooperation in serving this year’s APEC activities, including establishing an implementation plan for the 「Putrajaya Vision 2040」.

2. At this meeting, the member economies agreed on the need to cooperate to recover from the economic and health crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, and discussed ways to achieve free trade and investment, accelerate the digital economy, and ensure inclusive and sustainable growth.

ㅇ The member economies discussed ways to support the achievement of outcomes at the 12th World Trade Organization Ministerial Conference in order to strengthen the multilateral trading system for economic recovery, and agreed on the necessity to resume cross-border travels which have decreased significantly due to COVID-19.

ㅇ Moreover, the member economies shared the need for cooperation in facilitating transformation to digital economy, structural reforms on labour market and inclusive green recovery to pursue sustainable qualitative recovery and to promote co-prosperity.

3. They also decided to include the ambitious plans for regional cooperation in the implementation plan for the 「Putrajaya Vision 2040」 so that it could be endorsed in the coming APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting in November.

4. Deputy Minister for Economic Affairs Lee Seong-ho stressed Korea’s strong will and proposed concrete cooperative measures to strengthen the multilateral trading system, to promote qualitative growth and to accelerate economic recovery by facilitating the digital economy within the region.

ㅇ He called for working towards coming up with concrete measures to make progress in economic integration including agreeing on the Free Trade Area of the Asia Pacific (FTAAP) and to support the restoration of the important roles of the World Trade Organization (WTO).

ㅇ Deputy Minister Lee stressed the need to dutifully execute the agreed cooperative measures to strengthen competitiveness in the service sectors, and explained our strenuous efforts to restore cross-border travel that has dropped sharply due to COVID-19.

ㅇ He also explained the Korean government’s Green New Deal and Digital New Deal policies and policy for strengthening the social safety net aiming at increasing jobs and recovering domestic demand, and stressed the government’s willingness to share its policy experiences in promoting sustainable growth.

- In particular, he called for APEC to join the international efforts to promote climate actions and inclusive green recovery, and expressed the Korean government’s willingness to continuously play a leading role on this important issue by bidding to host the 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28) following the hosting of the P4G Summit in May 2021.

ㅇ As for drafting the implementation plan of the 「Putrajaya Vision 2040」, he proposed areas where the member economies could cooperate on such as liberalization of trade in environmental goods and services, consumer protection in digital trade, and the sustainable management of ocean resources.

5. This SOM served as an opportunity to discuss concrete measures to enhance cooperation in preserving supply chains in the Asia-Pacific region, and to agree on proceeding with APEC activities in due course including finalization of the implementation plan for the 「Putrajaya Vision 2040」. These efforts provided renewed momentum for cooperation in the region to overcome the COVID-19 crisis and to prepare for the post-COVID-19 era.

ㅇ The Korean government will continuously engage in cooperation in the region at Senior Officials’ Meetings and Ministers’ Meetings for coming up with feasible outcomes at the ALEM (APEC Leaders’ Economic Meeting) which will be held on November 12.