1. Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha met with her Panamanian counterpart Isabel de Saint Malo (concurrently serving as Vice President) on August 29, and engaged in extensive discussions on bilateral issues, including cooperation on the North Korean issue, enhancing substantive cooperation in trade, infrastructure and shipping, and cooperation on the global stage, as well as ways to advance the relations between the ROK and Panama.

2. Minister Kang expressed a big disappointment over the fact that North Korea conducted a ballistic missile launch in additional provocation on August 29, though the ROK government has ceaselessly worked to resolve the North Korean issue in a peaceful manner. She said that the ROK is closely consulting with major countries, including the US and Japan, on ways to respond to it, adding that the Security Council will also discuss further sanctions on North Korea.

o Minister Kang expressed appreciation to the Panamanian government for its consistent support for the ROK government’s policy to establish peace on the Korean Peninsula, and asked for the Panamanian government’s continued cooperation on the North Korean issue. Minister Saint Malo expressed support for the ROK government’s North Korea policy, and said that Panama, a peace-loving country, will continue relevant cooperation with the ROK.

3. The two Ministers took note that since forging diplomatic relations in 1962, the ROK and Panama have steadily developed the friendly and cooperative relations in various areas, including political, economic and trade affairs, and agreed on the need to increase mutual trust and cooperation by facilitating high-level exchanges and policy dialogues.

o In particular, the two sides said that the ROK-Central America FTA, to be formally signed in the second half of the year, will contribute significantly to enhancing mutually-beneficial cooperation between the two countries, including the expansion of trade and investment. They agreed to work together towards the early signing and entry into force of the FTA.

4. Minister Kang asked for Panama’s interest and support to help Korean companies, which are making contributions to Panama’s economic and social development, to participate in a range of infrastructure projects in the country. She also expected that with the opening of an expanded Panama Canal in June last year, cooperation between the two countries in the shipping and logistics sector will further increase.

o Minister Saint Malo agreed on the need to expand investment and cooperation in shipping and logistics between the two countries, and hoped to see more cooperation in environmental affairs, including waste management.

5. Minister Kang noted that the governments of the two countries have closely cooperated on the global stage, and asked the Panamanian side to support the ROK side in the election for the next Director-General of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), as well as in the elections for non-permanent members of the Security Council for the 2024-2025 term, and members of the Human Rights Council for the 2020-2022 term. The two sides also agreed to continue to work together in the international response to global issues, including terrorism and development.

6. The meeting, which marked the first Foreign Ministers’ meeting between the two countries since the inauguration of the new ROK government, served as an opportunity to obtain the Panamanian side’s understanding and support for the new ROK government’s Korean Peninsula policy, and to lay the foundation for expanding substantive cooperation in the infrastructure and shipping industries, thereby contributing to expand the horizons of the ROK’s diplomacy towards Central America.


* unofficial translation