Inauguration Ceremony Held for the 'East Asia-Latin America Cooperation Forum National Delegation'

Twenty-Four Young People from Nine Countries, Including Korea,
Selected as the 7th FEALAC National Delegation

On May 9, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that it held an inauguration ceremony for the '2025 East Asia-Latin America Cooperation Forum (FEALAC) National Delegation' at Mopamaru on the first floor of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs building in Jongno-gu, Seoul.

FEALAC is an interregional consultative body launched in 1999 with the aim of promoting mutual understanding between East Asia and Latin America. It consists of a total of 36 member countries. Since 2011, Korea has played a leading role by hosting and operating the FEALAC Cyber Secretariat and spearheading the establishment of the FEALAC Cooperation Fund.

This year marks the seventh cohort of the FEALAC National Delegation, a multinational youth supporter program launched by the Korean government in 2019 to promote youth cooperation between East Asia and Latin America. The youth supporters participate in various diplomatic events related to FEALAC and Latin America, where they engage in activities such as event coverage, blog promotion, and the production of card news, both online and offline.

Approximately 340 university and graduate students applied for this year's National Delegation, resulting in a competition ratio of 14 to 1. Ultimately, 24 young people from nine FEALAC member countries?Korea, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Bolivia, Mongolia, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Myanmar?were selected as the '7th National Delegation.'

In March, Mongolia was newly elected as the regional coordinator for East Asia, and the 10th Foreign Ministers' Meeting is scheduled to be held in Mongolia later this year. As a result, cooperation at the FEALAC level is expected to become more active in 2025. According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the FEALAC National Delegation is expected to contribute to public outreach on East Asia-Latin America cooperation and to the promotion of youth exchanges.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs plans to actively support young people so that they can experience real diplomatic settings and gain knowledge about Latin American diplomacy through a variety of National Delegation activities. Lee Juil, Director-General for Latin American and Caribbean Affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, requested, "As various FEALAC-level events are scheduled for this year, I hope the FEALAC National Delegation will actively contribute as civilian diplomats to strengthening cooperation between East Asia and Latin America and to revitalizing FEALAC."