1. Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha talked to Foreign Minister Aloysio Nunes Ferreira of Brazil over the phone on July 19. During the telephone conversation, Minister Nunes offered congratulations to Minister Kang on taking office and noted with appreciation the steady progress in the Republic of Korea-Brazil relations.

2. With regard to the accident of the Stellar Daisy vessel, Minister Kang extended appreciation to the Brazilian government for mobilizing military aircraft and ships for search operations, and asked Brazil to conduct another round of search operations on islands close to the accident site amid the possibility of the still-missing lifeboat having drifted to one of the islands.

° In response, Minister Nunes, bringing attention to strong efforts the Brazilian government had made to date to search the missing crew of the Stellar Daisy, mentioned that he will relay the ROK government’s request to the Brazilian Navy.

3. Minister Kang asked Minister Nunes to attend the eighth foreign ministerial meeting of the Forum for East Asia-Latin America Cooperation (FEALAC) scheduled to take place in Busan, south of Seoul, on August 31 and to make efforts to start as soon as possible negotiations on a trade agreement between the ROK and Mercosur (Common Market of the South).

4. The two Ministers agreed to consult with each other on major diplomatic issues as needed and to hold bilateral meetings on the sidelines of multilateral events for in-depth discussions on matters of mutual concern.


* unofficial translation