Mexico Hosts MIKTA Deputy Ministerial Meeting... Korea to Serve as Chair Country Until February Next Year

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] The MIKTA deputy ministerial meeting, a consultative body of five middle powers including South Korea, was held on the 11th (local time) in Mexico City, the capital of Mexico. This meeting is the last one hosted by Mexico, the current chair country of MIKTA. South Korea will take over as the new chair country until February next year starting from this meeting.

On the 12th, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that participants from the five countries, including Kang Jeong-sik, the Ministry's Multilateral Diplomacy Coordinator, exchanged constructive opinions on major regional situations such as the Korean Peninsula and future cooperation measures on the international stage.

MIKTA is a consultative body consisting of South Korea, Mexico, Indonesia, Turkey, and Australia, formed under the leadership of the South Korean government in September 2013 to jointly respond to international issues by middle powers sharing similar values and positions.

At this meeting, the participants reaffirmed MIKTA's commitment to strengthening multilateralism and addressing global challenges, and adopted a joint statement welcoming the South Korean government's efforts to establish peace on the Korean Peninsula.

Coordinator Kang explained that as the chair country, MIKTA, now entering its seventh year since its launch, plans to activate discussions among member countries on future development plans such as elevating MIKTA to a summit-level consultative body to enable it to play a more constructive role in the international community. He also proposed focusing this year’s MIKTA activities on △multilateralism, △sustainable development, △peace and security, and △mutual exchanges.

Furthermore, he suggested expressing MIKTA’s joint stance on strengthening multilateralism at major international meetings, deepening existing cooperation on development assistance and UN peacekeeping activities, and promoting human exchanges at both government and private levels among member countries.

In response, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated, "This meeting, held ahead of the start of our chairmanship term, is evaluated as an opportunity to enhance the understanding of member countries regarding our future chair activities and to request their active interest and participation."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.