1. The first Senior Officials’ Meeting (SOM) of MIKTA will take place in Seoul on February 27. MIKTA, launched in September 2013, has emerged as a major consultative mechanism among middle power countries of the international community despite its short history.

◦ The Republic of Korea, which is serving as the MIKTA chair from September 2014 till August 2015, will host the inaugural SOM. The forthcoming meeting is symbolic of the body’s advances as a substantive and major consultative mechanism among middle power countries. In addition, the ROK, by hosting the SOM and playing a leading role in the global network among the middle power countries, is expected to see its strategic space for diplomatic activities expanded.

◦ The decision to establish the SOM mechanism was made at the third MIKTA Foreign Ministers’ meeting held on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly session in September 2014. After its Seoul session, the SOM will be held on an annual or biannual basis.

2. The inaugural MIKTA SOM will be chaired by the ROK’s head delegate to the meeting, Deputy Minister for Political Affairs Lee Kyung-soo of the Foreign Ministry. It will consist of three sessions on building MIKTA’s joint website and the way forward for MIKTA, including mapping out a guideline for MIKTA activities; ways to move forward concrete cooperation projects, such as building an academic network and holding exchanges among journalists and students as well as business forums, and cooperation among the parliaments; and the detailed schedule and the agenda of the fifth Foreign Ministers’ meeting. The ROK’s Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se will host a welcoming luncheon for the delegates on the day of the meeting.

3. In the wake of the first SOM, the fifth Foreign Ministers’ meeting will take place in the ROK in May. The ROK government, by thoroughly playing a pivotal role in MIKTA, will contribute proactively to international efforts to set the global agenda and will seek further advances of MIKTA as the major consultative mechanism for implementing the ROK’s “responsible middle power” diplomacy.

◦ The ROK’s head delegate to the meeting, Deputy Minister Lee Kyung-soo, mentioned that the MIKTA SOM is the starting point of a new opportunity for the ROK’s diplomacy. He added that the ROK will make thorough preparations to make a success of the SOM and the ministerial meeting in May in order to further strengthen the solidarity among the MIKTA countries and make them a new starting point in building a different global network.

4. MIKTA is a consultative mechanism among five middle power countries -- Mexico, Indonesia, Korea, Turkey and Australia -- launched in September 2013 with the aim to contribute to the promotion of public interests of the international community. The group has issued joint statements on the Ebola outbreak and global health; the North Korean nuclear issue; and securing safe navigation of civilian aircraft in the wake of the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17. By doing so, MIKTA expressed to the international community its responsible position as a consultative mechanism on key regional and global issues. 


               Spokesperson and Deputy Minister for Public Relations of MOFA

* unofficial translation