Vice Minister Jo Se-young Holds 6th Phone Consultation with 7 Regional Countries to Strengthen Cooperation in COVID-19 Response

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] Cho Se-young, First Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs, participated in the 6th telephone consultation among deputy foreign ministers of seven regional countries on the morning of the 24th to respond to the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19).

The consultation included deputy foreign ministers from seven countries: Korea, the United States, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, India, and Vietnam. Since the first consultation on the 20th of last month, the seven countries have been holding regular weekly telephone consultations.

During this consultation, the deputy foreign ministers explained the trends of COVID-19 spread and response measures in their respective countries, and exchanged broad opinions on ways to smoothly conduct diplomatic activities under the COVID-19 situation, maintaining global supply chains, and the importance of transparent information disclosure.

Vice Minister Cho explained that although the number of confirmed cases in Korea recently decreased to around 10, vigilance has not been relaxed, and the social distancing campaign is being extended with the goal of transitioning to everyday quarantine (distancing in daily life) after the 5th of next month.

He also mentioned that the Korean government has actively cooperated with the international community by sharing Korea’s experiences and clinical data related to COVID-19 through webinars, telephone and video conferences, and internet information disclosure under the principle of transparency.

An official from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs explained, "Vice Minister Cho said that recently, to promote such international cooperation more systematically, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has formed an international quarantine cooperation task force (TF) together with related ministries, and hopes to cooperate more closely with each country and contribute to the international community’s COVID-19 response efforts."

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