President Moon talks with Finnish leader: "Border closures make the global economy more difficult"

Niinist?, President of Finland, "Expanding Cooperation with Korea After Overcoming COVID-19"

President Moon Jae-in [Photo by Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Son Sun-hee] On the 22nd, President Moon Jae-in held a phone call with Finnish President Sauli Niinist? and said regarding the COVID-19 pandemic, "The blocking of physical and human exchanges due to border closures by various countries for quarantine is making the global economy more difficult," and added, "I hope essential human exchanges, such as for businesspeople, can be allowed within the scope that does not hinder quarantine efforts."

Blue House spokesperson Kang Min-seok stated in a written briefing that President Moon said during the call, "International cooperation is necessary to overcome the economic crisis caused by the COVID-19 impact." The call was held at the request of President Niinist? from 3:30 PM for 30 minutes.

President Moon said, "If South Korea has succeeded in responding to COVID-19, it is because we quickly conducted diagnostic tests on many people, isolated confirmed cases, transparently disclosed information, and thereby led voluntary participation from the public." However, regarding the economic situation, he said, "South Korea is also facing difficulties due to the COVID-19 situation," and "Now, overcoming the economic crisis is as big a task as quarantine."

Furthermore, President Moon cited the diagnostic testing of Finnish coronavirus samples at our clinical research institute as a good example of quarantine cooperation between the two countries. He also evaluated Finland’s active contribution to international health cooperation, such as expanding voluntary contributions as the Vice-Chair of the World Health Organization (WHO) Executive Board and recently joining the International Vaccine Institute (IVI) establishment agreement country based in Seoul.

President Niinist? highly praised South Korea’s COVID-19 response and said, "Finland has established a response strategy similar to Korea’s," and "I fully agree with the statement that international cooperation is important for the economy to function."

He continued, "As the country that responded most effectively to COVID-19, Korea is evaluated to have secured a very advantageous position in sharing its unique strategies with the world not only in COVID-19 but also in other fields," and "We will prepare for newer and expanded cooperation with Korea after overcoming COVID-19."

President Niinist? reiterated, "Korea is one of the key countries that provided 'solutions' during the COVID-19 crisis," and "By sharing its COVID-19 related strategies with the world, Korea has gained an advantageous position, and its voice in the international community has grown accordingly."

In response, President Moon said, "I appreciate the positive evaluation, and it will be a great comfort and encouragement to our people who are going through difficulties."

Spokesperson Kang said, "The two leaders agreed on the necessity of international cooperation for the development of COVID-19 vaccines and treatments, as well as the need for efforts to recover the weakened global economy. They also agreed to work toward normalizing human and economic exchanges, including resuming direct air routes between the two countries as soon as the COVID-19 situation calms down." He added, "The two leaders evaluated the success of President Moon’s state visit to Finland in June last year and agreed to work together to ensure that the agreements made between the two leaders are faithfully implemented."

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