Minister Kang Kyung-hwa Holds Video Conference with Foreign Ministers of Six Countries... Proposes Cooperation on Essential Personnel Movement

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] On the 3rd, Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha held a video conference with the foreign ministers of the United States, Australia, Brazil, India, and Israel to discuss international cooperation measures related to the response to the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19).

At the meeting chaired by U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, the foreign ministers agreed that close communication and cooperation between countries are essential to simultaneously prevent the spread of COVID-19 and normalize economic and social activities.

They also discussed promoting cross-border human mobility, pandemic response cooperation, rapid and transparent information sharing, and international cooperation for economic recovery. Minister Kang particularly emphasized that South Korea has made diplomatic efforts to effectively block COVID-19 while opening its borders based on the principles of openness, transparency, and democracy, enabling essential personnel movement, and proposed that countries continue to cooperate to maintain openness.

Minister Kang further expressed hope that productive discussions would be conducted in a timely manner based on the World Health Organization (WHO) evaluation results to be carried out according to the resolution adopted at the World Health Assembly held on the 18th-19th. She also stated that South Korea would contribute to discussions on improving international health governance based on lessons learned from the early response to COVID-19. She introduced the government's domestic demand stimulus measures and added that she hopes to share experiences of economic and fiscal policies among countries during the pandemic response process.

A Foreign Ministry official explained, "The foreign ministers evaluated that candid and productive discussions on COVID-19 response were held again this time following the previous meeting, and agreed to continue close communication and cooperation going forward."