Government Joint Delegation Consults with US Treasury and State Departments on Resuming Humanitarian Trade with Iran

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] A government joint delegation led by Hong Jin-wook, Director General of the Africa and Middle East Bureau at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, held separate meetings on the 20th with Brad Smith, Deputy Director of the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), and Nick Stewart, Chief of Staff at the U.S. Department of State's Iran Special Representative Office, to discuss ways to resume humanitarian trade with Iran.

On the 21st, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that both sides positively evaluated the results of consultations during the visit of a Korean inter-agency working-level delegation to Iran on the 17th and 18th, and agreed to accelerate follow-up talks to resume exports to Iran, including pharmaceuticals. The inter-agency working-level delegation, composed of officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Strategy and Finance, and other related agencies, visited Iran on the 17th and 18th to discuss ways to resume humanitarian trade.

An official from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs explained, "This visit by the government joint delegation to the U.S. is expected to serve as a good opportunity to establish measures to resume humanitarian trade with Iran, which had been temporarily suspended since last September due to additional U.S. sanctions against Iran."

Meanwhile, the government has been closely consulting with relevant countries including the U.S. and Iran, following the visit to the U.S. last December by a public-private joint delegation led by Yoon Kang-hyun, Economic Diplomacy Coordinator, and the visit to Iran in November by an economic cooperation delegation, and plans to continue such consultations.

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