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Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun is having a phone call with Deputy Prime Minister of Canada Chrystia Freeland on the morning of the 12th. As the heads of COVID-19 response in Korea and Canada respectively, Prime Minister Chung and Deputy Prime Minister Freeland shared their countries' experiences in combating COVID-19 and exchanged broad opinions on cooperation measures between the two countries to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

[Asia Economy Reporter Kwangho Lee] Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun held a 50-minute phone call with Canadian Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland on the 12th to discuss cooperation measures in response to the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), the Prime Minister's Office announced.

During the call, Canadian Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland praised Korea's COVID-19 response as "a commendable example" and expressed her intention to import Korean quarantine supplies such as masks.

In response, Prime Minister Chung said, "We will actively support while monitoring the domestic supply situation of quarantine supplies."

Prime Minister Chung also expressed hope that the entry of Korean businesspeople into Canada would normalize soon and requested special attention to ensure that Korean nationals do not suffer unfair damage due to racial discrimination or other issues.

Deputy Prime Minister Freeland promised, "Currently, some exceptions such as businesspeople are allowed entry," and added, "We will pay more attention to the entry of our nationals into Canada and the safety of the Korean community."

Freeland further stated, "I was impressed by the 'Thursday Dialogue' initiated by Prime Minister Chung in April," and added, "Canada has also started a Canadian version of the Thursday Dialogue since last week, and we hope to learn from other Korean measures in the future."

Prime Minister Chung explained, "The Thursday Dialogue is a social dialogue model for resolving long-standing conflicts in our society and preparing for the future," and added, "Through the Thursday Dialogue, experts from various fields participate to seek government-wide response measures regarding the changes expected after COVID-19."

Prime Minister Chung and Deputy Prime Minister Freeland noted that Korea and Canada share commonalities as middle powers that uphold values such as democracy, and agreed to strengthen cooperation between the two countries to overcome COVID-19 and other challenges going forward.

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