1. First Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Cho Tae-yong, together with State Secretary Yves Rossier of Switzerland’s Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, held the second Republic of Korea-Switzerland Policy Consultation in Seoul on December 1. In the meeting, the two sides exchanged views on bilateral, regional, and global matters of mutual concern, such as the progress in the implementation of the follow-up measures to President Park Geun-hye’s state visit to Switzerland in January; ways to cooperate on Korean Peninsula issues with Switzerland, a member state of the Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission; and the UN, green growth and climate change.

* The meeting marked the first of its kind since the two countries concluded during President Park’s state visit to Switzerland in January a memorandum of understanding calling for strengthening regular consultative mechanisms between their foreign ministries.

2. The Vice Minister and the State Secretary shared the view that the first-ever state visit to Switzerland by an ROK President since the establishment of diplomatic relations in 1963 had served as a remarkable turning point in advancing bilateral ties. They reviewed the progress in the implementation of the measures agreed upon between the two leaders for substantive cooperation in the fields of vocational training, technology, innovation and social security, and agreed to continue working closely together in that regard down the road.

◦ Vice Minister Cho took note of the ongoing field studies and in-house training at companies in Switzerland offered to students of Korean vocational schools under the relevant memoranda of understanding between the two countries. Secretary Rossier, highlighting the importance of the participation of enterprises in vocational training, proposed the two countries continue close cooperation in the field.

◦ With regard to the bilateral Agreement on Social Security concluded in January to support operations of enterprises of their countries, the two sides noted with appreciation smooth progress of their respective domestic procedures toward the envisioned entry of the Agreement into force and agreed to make efforts to bring it into effect as soon as possible.

◦ Secretary Rossier expressed interest in additional market opening for cheese and other agricultural goods. Vice Minister Cho, bringing attention to the steady growth of bilateral trade volume since the entry into effect of the ROK- European Free Trade Association (EFTA) FTA in 2006, proposed the ROK and EFTA look into the possibility of expanding the scope of concessions over a sufficient period of time.

3. Vice Minister Cho commended Switzerland’s contribution to peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula as a member state of the Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission since 1953 and asked the country to continue cooperation in that regard. Secretary Rossier responded that Switzerland will play an active role in maintaining peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula, such as by acting as an inter-Korean mediator when necessary.

4. The two sides reaffirmed that their two countries, as partners with similar values, have maintained and advanced their cooperative ties. They exchanged views on ways to work more closely together on UN reform, activities of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and elections of international organizations.

◦ In particular, Vice Minister Cho extended appreciation to Switzerland for its contribution to the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) and asked for its participation in it. He also asked the Swiss government to attend the seventh World Water Forum to take place in April 2015. In response, Secretary Rossier, citing Switzerland’s keen interest in water, expressed willingness to positively consider attending the forum.

5. The second ROK-Switzerland Vice-Ministerial Policy Consultation is seen to have served as an opportunity to lay the groundwork for regularizing consultative mechanisms between the foreign ministries of the two countries as agreed at the bilateral summit talks in January and maintain the momentum of growing substantive cooperation in the fields of technology, innovation and vocational training with Switzerland, a country with great potential for cooperation with the ROK, toward realizing the ROK government’s creative economy initiative. 


                        Spokesperson and Deputy Minister for Public Relations of MOFA

* unofficial translation