7 Foreign Deputy Ministers' 4th Phone Consultation: "Continued Transparent Information Sharing and Close Cooperation"

Deputy Foreign Ministers from 7 Countries Including Korea "Continue Cooperation to Ensure COVID-19 Does Not Unnecessarily Affect Global Supply Chains and Repatriation of Nationals"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] On the morning of the 10th, Cho Se-young, First Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs, held the 4th telephone consultation with regional deputy foreign ministers to respond to the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19).

The consultation, involving deputy foreign ministers from seven countries including Korea, the United States, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Vietnam, and India, has been held regularly every week since the first consultation on the 20th of last month.

Participants included Stephen Biegun, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State; Akiba Takeo, Administrative Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs of Japan; Frances Adamson, Deputy Secretary of the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade; Bui Thanh Son, Senior Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Vietnam; and Sudhakar Dalela, Deputy Chief of Mission at the Indian Embassy in the United States.

The deputy foreign ministers shared each country's COVID-19 spread trends and response measures, and agreed to continue cooperation to ensure that the global COVID-19 crisis does not unnecessarily affect global supply chains and the return of their nationals.

Vice Minister Cho detailed the preventive quarantine measures the Korean government will take to ensure that our citizens can safely exercise their voting rights in the general election scheduled for the 15th, despite the unprecedented crisis of COVID-19 spread. He also highly appreciated the cooperation among regional countries in sharing charter flights for the repatriation of their nationals and expressed hope that such cooperation will continue.

The deputy ministers agreed to maintain close communication and cooperation in all areas, including transparent information sharing, to respond to COVID-19 going forward.

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