'Korea-Mekong High-Level Officials' Video Conference... Discussing Partnership for People, Prosperity, and Peace'

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] Representatives of the 'Korea-Mekong Cooperation Senior Officials Meeting' from Korea and the five Mekong River basin countries?Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam?met via video conference.

At the Korea-Mekong Senior Officials Meeting held on the afternoon of the 16th, co-chaired by Park Jae-kyung, Director General of ASEAN Affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Nguyen Van Tao, Deputy Minister and Director General of the International Economic Department of Vietnam's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Korea and the five Mekong countries focused on discussing cooperation measures to build a partnership of people, prosperity, and peace between Korea and the Mekong countries, leveraging the momentum of the first Korea-Mekong Summit held in Busan in November 2019.

The Korea-Mekong framework, which began at the ministerial level in 2011, was elevated to the summit level with the first Korea-Mekong Summit in 2019. Besides Korea, only Japan and China are conducting summit-level consultations with the Mekong region, and Korea holds both the Korea-Mekong Summit and the Korea-ASEAN Summit with Southeast Asian countries.

The five Mekong countries highly appreciated the various supports provided by Korea in relation to COVID-19, stating that Korea's assistance has been very helpful in each country's COVID-19 response. Furthermore, Korea and the five Mekong countries agreed to continue strengthening cooperation at the Korea-Mekong level not only in health and quarantine sectors but also across overall political, economic, and social fields to minimize the negative impacts of COVID-19.

Additionally, Korea and the five Mekong countries expressed concern over water shortages and food security issues in the Mekong region due to recent environmental changes in the Mekong River and agreed to further expand cooperation for the sustainable development of the Mekong region.

The six countries evaluated the significant achievements of Korea-Mekong cooperation since the launch of the ministerial-level framework in 2011 and its elevation to the summit level last year, reviewing the implementation status of various customized cooperation projects that connect Korea's comparative advantages with the actual needs of the Mekong region.

Between Korea and the Mekong countries, specific cooperation projects have been systematically implemented through Official Development Assistance (ODA), the Korea-Mekong Cooperation Fund, and the Korea-Mekong Action Plan. In particular, major cooperation projects demonstrating the strengths of Korea-Mekong cooperation, such as the 'Korea-Mekong Business Council,' 'Korea-Mekong Biodiversity Center,' 'Korea-Mekong Joint Water Management Research Center,' and 'Korea-Mekong Peace Community Creation Project,' agreed upon by the six heads of state last year, are currently underway.

The Korean side proposed measures to raise public awareness of the importance of Korea-Mekong cooperation and to encourage active private sector participation in future cooperation processes, including △holding a public contest among the six countries' citizens to design an emblem symbolizing Korea-Mekong cooperation and △selecting representatives from the six countries to form 'Korea-Mekong Supporters' who can represent people-to-people exchanges.

Furthermore, the 'Korea-Mekong Business Council,' newly established last year by the Korea International Trade Association and the chambers of commerce of the five Mekong countries, agreed to continue cooperation at the six-country level to successfully hold the 8th Korea-Mekong Business Forum in the second half of this year and to promote various face-to-face meetings between Korea and the Mekong countries as soon as the COVID-19 situation stabilizes.

The Korean government plans to participate more actively in various international cooperation efforts related to the Mekong region, considering the increasing geopolitical and economic importance of the Mekong area and the trend of neighboring countries strengthening Mekong cooperation.

An official from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs explained, "Our government participated in the 'Lower Mekong Friendly Countries' meeting led by the United States on the 2nd and the 'Public-Private ASEAN Forum on Mekong Regional Development' hosted by Vietnam on the 14th. Going forward, we plan to actively pursue bilateral and multilateral consultations not only with the five Mekong countries but also with other countries participating in Mekong cooperation."

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