Kim Geon, Deputy Minister, Meets with New Zealand Ambassador to Korea... NZ Side "Hopes to Hold Policy Council Within the Year"

Kim Deputy Minister Requests Support for Yoo Myung-hee, Head of Trade Negotiations, in WTO Director-General Candidacy

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] The Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that Deputy Minister Kim Geon held a meeting on the 21st at the request of Philip Turner, Ambassador of New Zealand to Korea.

During the meeting, Ambassador Turner expressed hope to hold a policy consultation meeting between the deputy ministers of foreign affairs of the two countries within the year. Turner said, "New Zealand values its relationship with Korea, a long-standing ally," and added, "We hope to further strengthen the bilateral relationship."

He continued, "To ensure close cooperation and communication between the two countries, we hope to hold the policy consultation meeting between the deputy ministers of foreign affairs as soon as possible within this year."

In response, Deputy Minister Kim stated that despite the suspension of regular flights between the two countries, with New Zealand's cooperation, about 1,900 of our citizens were able to return home smoothly, and recently, a Korean emergency patient in Papua New Guinea was safely repatriated with New Zealand's assistance. He also agreed that the consultation meeting could be held either in person or via video conference at a convenient time for both sides.

Deputy Minister Kim also evaluated New Zealand's active support for Korea's candidacy in international organizations and once again requested attention and support for Yoo Myung-hee, the Chief Trade Negotiator, who is running for the Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO).

Based on the video conference with Allison Mann, New Zealand's Senior Official for ASEAN, on the 7th, Deputy Minister Kim assessed the close cooperation between the two sides at the East Asia Summit (EAS) and the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) Foreign Ministers' Meetings, and agreed to continue close cooperation in preparing for the EAS summit in November. In response, Ambassador Turner noted that Korea and New Zealand have been closely cooperating on COVID-19 vaccine efforts through various multilateral mechanisms such as the COVAX Facility, and agreed to further strengthen related cooperation going forward.

Despite the reduced exchanges due to COVID-19, both sides agreed to continue close communication and cooperation to respond to economic recovery and regional developments.