1. The eighth Foreign Ministers’ Meeting of the Forum for East Asia-Latin America Cooperation (FEALAC) will take place at the APEC House in Busan on August 31.

° The upcoming event will bring together some 270 government delegates from 16 East Asian and 20 Latin American countries as well as the Executive Secretary of the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) and the Deputy Executive Secretary of the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) in their capacity as representatives from international organizations of the two regions.

※ FEALAC is the only multilateral inter-governmental consultative mechanism between East Asia and Latin America launched in 1999 to promote mutual understanding, friendship and cooperation among its member states.

2. The Republic of Korea, FEALAC’s Regional Coordinator for East Asia and chair country, has been making diplomatic efforts to lead at the Busan meeting the development of FEALAC and thereby to enhance its international standing.

° Pursuant to the its New Action Plan, which the ROK will lead the adoption of at the forthcoming meeting, FEALAC will set up a fund, conduct inter-regional cooperation projects and seek a closer cooperation with other international organizations.

° In addition, the Busan meeting is expected to serve as an opportunity to extensively exchange views on ways that the member states of FEALAC can jointly address various global challenges, including those concerning economy, sustainable development, climate change and terrorism, that are also posed to East Asia and Latin America.

3. In particular, at the upcoming meeting, the final decision will be made to establish the FEALAC fund, setting a milestone for a long-term development of FEALAC.

° With regard to the envisioned establishment of the fund, FEALAC’s long-aspired project that had failed to see tangible progress, the ROK has faithfully served its role as the chair country by, based on the agreement with other member states, consulting with other international organizations, gathering opinions from other FEALAC members and raising voluntary contributions.

° The FEALAC fund is expected to be channeled mainly into cooperation projects in the areas the ROK is competitive in, including trade, investment, science, technology, innovation, infrastructure, transportation, public policy and private-public cooperation, thereby supporting the ROK’s bid to expand its presence in East Asia and Latin America.

° Furthermore, the fund will be run and grow under the partnerships with the UN ESCAP and ECLAC to be forged during the Busan meeting, marking a tangible result of FEALAC’s pursuit for cooperation with major international organizations. In particular, Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha’s long-term service at the UN is seen to have induced the international bodies to play an active role.

4. Amid nuclear and missile threats from North Korea currently growing to an unprecedented level, the ROK government will underscore at the upcoming meeting the need for the FEALAC member states to send a joint message of zero tolerance for a nuclear North Korea and to urge the North to thoroughly implement the relevant UN Security Council resolutions in efforts to induce a peaceful denuclearization of North Korea; as well as the need to continue collaboration among them to establish peace on the Korean Peninsula.

5. During the meeting, the ROK will promote to the participating delegates the cultural excellence of the globally emerging city of Busan as well as the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games.

° On September 1, the delegates, with the support of the government of the Busan Metropolitan City and the Busan Tourism Organization, will make a tour of city. In addition, during the meeting, a promotional booth for the PyeongChang Winter Olympics will be set up and run for the delegates to visit.

6. The eighth FEALAC Foreign Ministers’ Meeting, the first multilateral foreign ministerial meeting to take place in the ROK since the launch of the new government in the country, is expected to contribute to the country’s efforts to enhance its friendly and cooperative ties with the other 35 member states of FEALAC. The various forms of bilateral meetings to come on the sidelines of the FEALAC meeting will help the ROK broaden its diplomatic horizon.

° On the sidelines of the FEALAC meeting, Minister Kang will meet bilaterally with her counterparts from eight countries. In particular, the bilateral meetings with Latin American countries, which the ROK has few opportunities to hold high-level meetings with, are expected to serve as an opportunity to tighten cooperative relations with them.


* unofficial translation