Deputy Minister Kim Geon Holds Video Conference with V4 Ambassadors from Poland, Czech Republic, and Others: "Korea's Image in Host Countries is Improving"

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] Kim Geon, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, held a video conference on the 22nd with heads of diplomatic missions stationed in the Visegrad Group (V4) countries to review the current status of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) and discuss ways to strengthen cooperation with the V4 countries amid the changing environment caused by COVID-19.

The V4 is a group of four Central European countries: Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary, and Slovakia. These countries are middle powers and important partners for Korea's diplomatic diversification as well as the largest export market within the EU.

Korea's investment in the V4 countries increased more than 30 times over five years from 2015 to 2019. In particular, with the active entry of companies related to electric vehicle batteries, the region has established itself as a foothold in Europe leading the global market in the industry. However, direct exchanges have been restricted for some time recently due to COVID-19.

The participants stated that various cooperations between Korea and the V4 countries have continued even under the COVID-19 situation. Deputy Minister Kim said, “Under the COVID-19 situation, our country and the V4 countries have achieved support for the return of overseas nationals and exceptional entry of our businesspeople,” adding, “These cases well demonstrate mutual cooperation and trust between the two sides and are an important diplomatic asset for strengthening cooperation.”

Following this, the heads of diplomatic missions explained, “Through Korea’s exemplary COVID-19 response and our companies’ Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities, the positive image of Korea in the host countries is being enhanced.”

Meanwhile, the participants of this video conference emphasized the need to actively utilize non-face-to-face diplomatic methods such as communication through local missions and video conferences to sustain this momentum of cooperation with the V4 countries.

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