1. The Foreign Ministry will host the 2014 High-Level Forum on Korea-Latin America Partnership themed “Sharing Vision, Deepening Partnership” in downtown Seoul on July 2.

* The High-Level Forum on Korea-Latin America Partnership is an annual event held since 2008, where high-level officials invited from ten-odd Latin American countries discuss ways to enhance substantive cooperation between the Republic of Korea and Latin America.

2. The Latin American delegation to the forum will be comprised of high-level officials, including the Foreign Ministers of Costa Rica and Ecuador and the Deputy Foreign Minister of Cuba as well as those from leading think tanks and development banks. The ROK delegation will include high-ranking officials of relevant organizations, such as the Export-Import Bank of Korea, the Korea Development Institute (KDI) and the Korea Institute for International Economic Policy (KIEP), professors, entrepreneurs, students and general public, some 500 in total. The forum will consist of three sessions on the ways forward for the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) and ways for the ROK and CELAC to work together; challenges facing Latin America and ways to strengthen the ROK-Latin America cooperation; and ways to promote economic cooperation between the ROK and Latin America through international development financial institutes.

3. The ROK Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se will deliver opening remarks at the forum to offer congratulations on holding the event and to speak of the willingness and the vision of the ROK government to promote the ROK-Latin America ties. In session I to be chaired by First Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Cho Tae-yong, Ministers and/or Vice Ministers of Foreign Affairs of CELAC’s Cuarteto countries -- Costa Rica, Ecuador, Cuba and Antigua and Barbuda -- and Korean academics will discuss CELAC’s formation process and its prospect and explore ways for the ROK and CELAC to work together.

4. In session II, leading experts of key political and economic think tanks of Latin America, such as the Mexican Council on Foreign Relations (COMEXI), the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), and Brazil's Institute for Applied Economic Research (IPEA), will discuss challenges facing Latin America as well as ways for the ROK and Latin America to work more closely together in a future-oriented manner. Session III will be attended by high-ranking officials of development banks of Latin America, including Mexico's national development bank (NAFIN), Colombia’s Financial Corporation for the Territorial Development (FINDETER) and Peru’s national development bank (COFIDE). The participants will discuss ways to support through the Development Bank of Latin America Korean companies’ bids to enter the Latin American market.

5. The forthcoming forum carries significance in that amid the expanding role and the enhancing standing of CELAC in the international community, the Ministers and Vice Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the key CELAC countries will attend the event to discuss ways for the ROK-Latin America cooperation with high-level government officials, entrepreneurs, professors and other academics, students and other ordinary citizens of the ROK. As the forum will take place at a time when the 2014 FIFA World Cup is under way in Brazil, the forum is expected to draw keen attention from and enhance the understanding of the ROK’s general public on Latin America and CELAC.

7. The ROK Foreign Ministry has been hosting the forum on an annual basis since 2008 in cooperation with a number of relevant government agencies and organizations in the country. The range of fields covered by the forum has expanded beyond trade, investment, energy, infrastructure and other economic areas to include culture, environment, development, e-government and public healthcare. This year’s forum will be hosted by the Foreign Ministry with the support of the Korea International Trade Association, the KDI and KIEP. Admission to the forum will be free with on-site registration available. Simultaneous interpretation services will also be available in Korean and Spanish. For more detail, please visit http://www.klacforum.org or contact 02-2100-7441. 


                Spokesperson and Deputy Minister for Public Relations of MOFA

* unofficial translation