1. On June 24, Deputy Minister for Multilateral and Global Affairs Shin Dong-ik met with H.E. Ambassador Abdulla Abdullatif Abdullah, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bahrain, who was on a visit to the Republic of Korea from June 22 through 24. In the meeting, the two sides exchanged views on ways to promote the ROK-Bahrain relations and discussed ways to work together in the field of human rights.

° Deputy Minister Shin and Undersecretary Abdulla shared the view that continued high-level exchanges are essential for the promotion of the friendship between the ROK and Bahrain. In this vein, they expressed hope to see their cooperative ties strengthened through the visit to the ROK by the Bahraini Prime Minister likely to take place in September.

2. In the policy consultation that followed, the ROK and the Bahraini delegations, led by Director-General for African and Middle Eastern Affairs Kwon Hee-seog and Undersecretary Abdulla, respectively, reviewed the progress in the bilateral cooperation and discussed the possibility of working together in a wide range of fields, including politics, economy, trade, culture and education.

° In particular, both sides attached great significance to the policy consultation as the first of its kind since the one in 2007 and agreed to invigorate the consultative mechanism for continued discussions on ways to advance bilateral ties.

3. On a side note, during his visit to the ROK, Undersecretary Abdulla also met with Commissioner Kim Young-hye of the National Human Rights Commission of Korea and Dean of Education and Training Kwon Tae-myon of the Korea National Diplomatic Academy to exchange views on human rights and the respective diplomatic education programs of the two countries. 


                  Spokesperson and Deputy Minister for Public Relations of MOFA

* unofficial translation