Vice Minister Joseyung Holds Phone Conference with Deputy Foreign Ministers of 7 Countries on COVID-19 Response... Discusses Measures to Resume Economic Activities

Korea, USA, Japan, Australia, New Zealand Deputy Foreign Ministers Participate... Held 10 Times Since March

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] On the morning of the 12th, Cho Se-young, First Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs, participated in a telephone consultation among deputy foreign ministers of seven countries in the region to respond to the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19).

The consultation, involving deputy foreign ministers from seven countries including Korea, the United States, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, India, and Vietnam, has been held regularly nine times since March 13, and this consultation was the tenth.

The consultation was attended by Stephen Biegun, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State; Akiba Takeo, Administrative Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs of Japan; Frances Adamson, Deputy Secretary of the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade; Chris Seed, Deputy Secretary of the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade; Harsh Shringla, Senior Deputy Foreign Secretary of India; and Bui Thanh Son, Senior Deputy Foreign Minister of Vietnam.

During this telephone consultation, the deputy foreign ministers exchanged views on △promoting regional cooperation in response to COVID-19 △ways to resume economic activities △development and stable supply of vaccines and therapeutics.

Vice Minister Cho introduced that although sporadic cluster infections have recently occurred mainly in the Seoul metropolitan area in Korea, the government is not lowering its guard and is mobilizing all quarantine capabilities and resources to respond.

Furthermore, Korea expressed active support for regional cooperation to respond to COVID-19 and proposed discussing △allowing the movement of essential personnel such as businesspeople and △ways to maintain global value chains through various regional cooperation frameworks. He also suggested that since COVID-19 therapeutics and vaccines are global public goods, the international community should continue to cooperate to ensure supply to vulnerable countries and groups after development.

In response, the deputy ministers agreed on the importance of close communication among regional countries amid the prolonged COVID-19 situation, evaluated the usefulness of this consultation, and agreed to continue consultations regularly in the future.

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