Minister Kang Kyung-wha Holds Video Conference with Foreign Ministers of the US, Australia, India, and Others... Introduces Korean New Deal

Discussion on Promoting International Human Mobility and International Cooperation for Economic Recovery

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] On the 7th, Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha attended a multilateral video conference with foreign ministers of major countries for about an hour to discuss international cooperation measures related to the response to the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19).

The third video conference was attended by foreign ministers from Korea, the proposing country the United States, Australia, Brazil, India, and Israel.

The foreign ministers shared each country's COVID-19 response status and discussed ?promoting human mobility between countries ?pandemic response cooperation ?rapid and transparent information sharing ?international cooperation for economic recovery.

Minister Kang explained, "Korea is stably controlling the spread of COVID-19 through domestic and international quarantine efforts, but currently faces difficulties such as increased risk of cluster infections due to the unprecedentedly long rainy season and adverse effects on economic recovery efforts," adding, "The need for inter-country cooperation is increasing."

She also introduced that the Korean government recently announced the Korean New Deal plan, aiming to invest 160 trillion won by 2025 to create numerous jobs in the digital and green sectors, striving for economic advancement after COVID-19. She further explained that international cooperation to promote mobility between countries is ongoing, including discussions on ‘fast lanes’ to guarantee the movement of essential personnel such as businesspeople with some countries. She evaluated that several countries, including Korea, are making efforts to safely resume face-to-face diplomacy.

Additionally, Korea, as the host country of the International Vaccine Institute (IVI) headquarters, emphasized its contribution to the development and distribution of safe, effective, and reasonably priced vaccines under the principle of equitable global access. She called for continued cooperation on securing and fairly distributing COVID-19 vaccines through mechanisms such as the COVAX Facility. Furthermore, she introduced that the Korean government is promoting various forms of humanitarian aid to developing countries for COVID-19 response and is pursuing development cooperation aimed at strengthening recipient countries' response capabilities in the mid to long term, including sharing Korea’s quarantine model.

In response, the foreign ministers agreed that close communication and cooperation between countries are crucial to overcoming the international crisis amid the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic, evaluated the usefulness of this video conference, and agreed to continue transparent and productive discussions in the future.