President Moon Holds First Summit of the Year with EU... Expresses Commitment to 'Overcoming COVID-19 Together'

President Moon Jae-in is holding a video summit at the Blue House on the 30th with Charles Michel, President of the European Council, and Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission. 2020.6.30
[Photo by Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Son Sun-hee] On the 30th, President Moon Jae-in held a 'Korea-EU Video Summit' at the Blue House and reaffirmed his strong will to overcome the COVID-19 pandemic, which has spread globally, through solidarity with the international community.

At 4 p.m. (Korean time) on the same day, President Moon held the first bilateral summit of the year at the Blue House with Charles Michel, President of the European Council, and Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, discussing cooperation in response to COVID-19, the future development direction of the Korea-EU 'strategic partnership,' and the situation on the Korean Peninsula, the Blue House announced.

During the summit, EU leaders highly praised the Korean government's swift and transparent response to COVID-19. In response, President Moon actively expressed his intention to contribute to the international community's efforts against COVID-19 by utilizing the experience and clinical data accumulated during Korea's quarantine and healing process.

In particular, both leaders recognized that the global spread of COVID-19 has caused suffering to humanity, burdened health and welfare systems, and severely impacted economies and jobs, affecting countries worldwide.

Accordingly, both leaders emphasized the spirit of 'solidarity' with the international community, including the Group of Twenty (G20) and the United Nations (UN). They stressed the importance of effective multilateralism while sharing common values such as democracy, human rights, fundamental freedoms, the rule of law, and non-discrimination.

Regarding this, both leaders welcomed the close cooperation in information sharing between Korea's Ministry of Food and Drug Safety and the European Medicines Agency (EMA), including the signing of a 'temporary confidentiality agreement' related to COVID-19. They also reaffirmed support for the World Health Organization (WHO), which has been coordinating the response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The leaders urged that future COVID-19 vaccines and treatments should become 'global public goods' and discussed support measures for COVID-19 response in developing countries, including Africa.

Both sides agreed to actively respond to the economic impact caused by COVID-19 and to participate in the international community's economic reconstruction efforts, including the G20. To this end, they plan to closely cooperate to minimize the impact on cross-border movement and trade. A joint press release containing these details was adopted immediately after the summit.

The Blue House stated, "This summit is evaluated as a good opportunity for Korea and the EU to seek new directions for cooperation based on the successful strategic partnership over the past decade and to further strengthen cooperation on global issues such as COVID-19, climate change, and multilateral trade as global cooperation partners."

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