1. During his visit to New York to attend the 4th High-level Meeting of the UN Development Cooperation Forum, Deputy Minister for Multilateral and Global Affairs Shin Dong-ik of the Foreign Ministry met on July 9 with International Labour Organization (ILO) Director-General Guy Ryder. The two sides signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) focused on pursuing cooperation projects between the ROK and the ILO to implement the G20 development agenda.

2. The MOU was signed as a follow-up to President Park Geun-hye’s announcement during the G20 Summit in St. Petersburg, Russia, in September, 2013, that the ROK will contribute actively to implementing the G20’s commitments on human resource development.

o The ILO is playing a central role, including the overall management of relevant international organizations’ activities in the human resource development area of the G20 development agenda. Given its abundant project experience in the area, the ILO is regarded as the most suitable partner for the ROK in pursuing cooperation projects.

3. The MOU focuses on implementing the G20’s commitments on human resource development in developing countries. To that end, the two sides will first conduct capacity-building projects for job creation in Mozambique and Nepal.

4. The cooperation projects hold significance in that the G20’s discussions on development agenda, which have been focused on policy recommendations, will lead to real effects in developing countries. This is expected to help further strengthen the ROK’s leadership in the area of development within the G20, a group of the world’s major countries.

5. Deputy Minister Shin and Director-General Ryder noted with appreciation that the cooperative relations between the ROK and the ILO have expanded, including through work on joint projects. They also agreed on the need to continue to enhance partnership between the two sides to improve working conditions and the quality of jobs across the world. 


                 Spokesperson and Deputy Minister for Public Relations of MOFA

*unofficial translation