1. The government of the Republic of Korea will attend the 17th Senior Officials’ Meeting (SOM) of the Forum for East Asia-Latin America Cooperation (FEALAC) in Guatemala from August 24 through 26.

° The ROK and Guatemala will co-chair the forthcoming meeting as FEALAC’s regional coordinators from 2015 till 2017. The ROK’s head delegate to the meeting will be the Foreign Ministry’s Director-General for Latin American and Caribbean Affairs Lim Ki-mo.

2. At the upcoming SOM, the participants will review the progress in the FEALAC cooperation projects being conducted by member states and discuss in depth the way forward for FEALAC, set to mark in 2019 the 20th anniversary of its founding.

° The officials are also expected to review the progress in the preparations for the eighth FEALAC Foreign Ministers’ Meeting, which will take place in the ROK in the first half of 2017.

3. The ROK, FEALAC’s regional coordinator for East Asia from 2015 to 2017 and the host of the Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in 2017, will present ways “towards a more dynamic FEALAC” and make suggestions regarding the main content of the “New Action Plan” to be adopted in 2019 to mark the 20th anniversary of FEALAC’s founding. By doing so, the ROK will lead FEALAC’s discussion process.

° As ways “towards a more dynamic FEALAC,” the ROK will mainly propose setting up a FEALAC cooperation fund; establishing a troika system; and holding FEALAC summit meetings in order to enhance the visibility and connectivity of FEALAC.

4. Since the launch of FEALAC in 1999, the ROK has been playing an active role in the development of the body, including by hosting its Cyber Secretariat. At the forthcoming SOM, the ROK will lead discussions on the way forward for FEALAC, thereby helping muster political resolve and capacity for FEALAC’s fresh leap ahead of the 20th anniversary of its founding.

° The upcoming SOM is expected to serve as an opportunity for the FEALAC member states to share with one another and coordinate their views on the major deliverables to be produced at the eighth FEALAC Foreign Ministers’ Meeting set to take place in the ROK in 2017, and thereby pave the way for the success of the planned Foreign Ministers’ Meeting.


* unofficial translation