1. The Foreign Ministry, together with the Korea International Trade Association (KITA), will host in Seoul from June 28 through 30 a Republic of Korea-Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) Future Cooperation Forum themed “Korea-LAC Cooperation in the Fourth Industrial Revolution Era.” The event will bring together senior government officials as well as those from academias, think tanks, international organizations, and online enterprises of East Asian and LAC countries.

° The forthcoming tenth round of the what was inaugurated as the annual “High-Level Forum on Korea-Latin America Partnership” in 2008 will consist of an expert forum on June 28; a high-level forum among minister- and vice-minister-level officials on June 29; and a youth forum on June 30, which will feature a briefing on ways for youth to build presence overseas and a mentoring lecture.

2. At the high-level forum, the main event, on June 29, Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha will deliver video-recorded opening remarks; Minister of the Interior Kim Boo-kyum and Representative Park Young-sun of the ruling Democratic Party congratulatory remarks; and Second Vice President Mercedes Aráoz of Peru a keynote speech, followed by presentations by ranking officials of the ROK and nine LAC countries on their respective policies regarding the fourth industrial revolution and ways to work with the ROK in that regard. Among the presenters will be Second Vice Minister of Science, ICT and Future Planning Kim Yong-soo and Vice Minister of the Interior Shim Bo-kyun of the ROK; Minister of Trade and Industry Paula Gopee-Scoon of Trinidad and Tobago; General Administrator of the National Authority of Government Innovation Irvin Halman of Panama; Undersecretary of Economy Rogelio Garza of Mexico; and President of the Agency for Industrial Development Luiz Ferreira of Brazil.

° At the expert forum on June 30, President Michael Schifter of the Inter-American Dialogue, the most prestigious think tank on Latin American affairs, will deliver a keynote speech, which will be followed by discussions on opportunities and challenges in the fourth industrial revolution era by experts in Latin American politics and economy from various backgrounds, including professor Christopher Sabatini of Columbia University; President Claudia Serrano of the OECD LAC Regional Program.

° At the youth forum on June 30, mentoring lectures will be given in the form of Technology, Entertainment, Design (TED) talks by Go san, CEO of the TIDE (Technology, Imagination, Design and Entrepreneurship) Institute and one of the ROK’s first-ever astronaut candidates; and CEO of Chazki Gonzalo Begazo, who has been included in the list of the 100 most influential Hispanics in technology in the US.

3. In particular, this year, the Forum for East Asia-Latin America cooperation (FEALAC) will hold a business forum in conjunction with the Future Cooperation Forum on its last day, June 30, to promote cooperation between the ROK and LAC countries with regard to the fourth industrial revolution. Representatives of leading e-commerce enterprises and relevant groups of East Asian and LAC countries have been invited to attend along with their Korean counterparts and other participants a “seminar on ways for online businesses to build presence in East Asia and Latin America.”

° Executive Managing Director Lee Jae-chool of KITA will deliver a keynote speech. E-commerce experts, such as a ranking official of KITA’s E-Biz Services Group, Vice President Sean Wang of NetEase, one of China’s largest online service providers, and President Eric Perez Grovas of the Mexican Association of Online Sales, will share with the other participants their knowhow for building presence in e-commerce markets in LAC and East Asian countries.

※ FEALAC, a consultative mechanism composed of 36 member states, -- 16 East Asian and 20 Latin American countries -- was launched in 1999 to promote cooperation and mutual understanding between the two regions.

4. The forthcoming “ROK-LAC Future Cooperation Forum” will mark the first international event under the theme of “the fourth industrial revolution,” one of the main policy tasks of the Moon Jae-in government, since the launch of the government. It is expected to help broaden the scope of the ROK-LAC cooperation beyond infrastructure and resources to include the e-government system, online businesses and other service industries.

5. Throughout the course of organizing the Forum, including promoting it and setting up its registration procedure and programs, the general public of the ROK took part through SNS and others in line with the “diplomacy together with the people” policy of the Moon Jae-in government.

° According to the result of the prior registration, a combined 2,000-odd people are expected to participate in the three-day event.

° The events held to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the Forum has drawn keen response, with some 1,000 netizens participating in SNS events held during the month of June and thereby sharing with others their valuable memories related to Latin America.

※ For further details about the Forum, please visit its official website at www.klacforum.org or call the South America Division of the Foreign Ministry at 02-2100-7240 or the Americas Department of KITA at 02-6000-5456.


* unofficial translation