Minister Choi Ki-young Introduces South Korea's COVID-19 Response at G20 Meeting

[Asia Economy Reporter Seolgina Jo] Choi Ki-young, Minister of Science and ICT, attended the G20 Special Digital Economy Ministerial Meeting and introduced South Korea's COVID-19 response policies utilizing ICT, emphasizing the importance of continuous international cooperation.

According to the Ministry of Science and ICT on the 1st, Minister Choi attended the G20 Special Digital Economy Ministerial Meeting held via video conference the previous evening. This meeting was urgently convened to specify and seek practical measures for the use of digital technologies in response to COVID-19, as stated in the G20 Special Leaders' Declaration on March 26. Representatives from G20 countries including the United States and China, invited countries such as Spain, and international digital organizations like the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) also participated.

At the meeting, Minister Choi shared South Korea's COVID-19 response policies such as quarantine measures, rapid diagnostic kit development using artificial intelligence (AI), self-quarantine apps, public mask apps, and analysis of social distancing effects through supercomputing modeling. He also introduced efforts to overcome the economic damage caused by COVID-19, including the Digital New Deal policy that creates new jobs through fostering industries in digital infrastructure and big data sectors.

He emphasized that this meeting would confirm the G20 countries' commitment to overcoming COVID-19 and serve as an opportunity to actively utilize digital technologies to eradicate the virus. Representatives from G20 countries and international organizations attending the meeting agreed on the importance of digital technologies and policies to overcome the COVID-19 crisis and adopted the G20 Special Digital Economy COVID-19 Response Declaration, which includes cooperation through sharing lessons and digital policies related to COVID-19 response, and developing policy cases to support the digital transformation of companies, especially small and medium-sized enterprises, to overcome COVID-19.

The Ministry of Science and ICT plans to continue sharing South Korea's COVID-19 response experience using ICT to overcome the global COVID-19 crisis and actively promote international cooperation such as joint research for the development of treatments and vaccines.

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