"Overcoming COVID-19 through Free Trade"… Korea-ASEAN Joint Response Consultation

Yoo Myung-hee Attends RCEP and ASEAN Economic Ministers' Meeting

Photo by Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy

[Asia Economy Reporter Moon Chaeseok] The government has decided to strengthen economic cooperation with ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) countries and jointly respond to economic recovery and growth after the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy announced on the 30th that Yoo Myung-hee, the Chief Trade Negotiator, attended four international meetings held virtually, including the ASEAN Ministerial Meeting, from the 27th to the 29th, and reached a consensus with participating countries.

According to the ministry, at the 8th Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) Ministerial Meeting, the participating countries formed a consensus that RCEP is important in supporting free trade and the multilateral trading system, and agreed to make efforts to ensure the signing proceeds smoothly within this year.

Chief Negotiator Yoo emphasized that the RCEP signing must be completed within this year to overcome the COVID-19 crisis and enhance regional trade liberalization, stating that South Korea will actively work towards this goal.

At the 17th Korea-ASEAN Economic Ministers' Meeting, representatives from each country reviewed the progress of cooperative projects to establish the Korea-ASEAN Industrial Innovation Institution (AKIIC) and the Standardization Joint Research Center (AKSRC), agreeing to complete detailed consultations before the Korea-ASEAN Summit scheduled for November.

AKIIC is an organization that will comprehensively support Korea-ASEAN joint research and development (R&D), technology transfer, and commercialization, and is expected to be established next year. AKSRC is an institution aimed at strengthening ASEAN standard capabilities and jointly developing standards in the Fourth Industrial Revolution fields, scheduled to be established in 2022.

Additionally, the participating countries adopted the "Joint Statement of Korea-ASEAN Economic Ministers on Strengthening Economic Connectivity in the Post-COVID-19 Period," which includes key cooperation measures such as ensuring the movement of essential goods to maintain the Global Value Chain (GVC), promoting the movement of essential business personnel, and complying with World Trade Organization (WTO) norms and maintaining the multilateral trading system.

At the 23rd ASEAN+3 Economic Ministers' Meeting, economic ministers from the 10 ASEAN countries plus Korea, China, and Japan (total 13 countries) adopted the "ASEAN+3 Action Plan (APT PoA)."

The action plan concretizes into action the joint declarations from the ASEAN+3 Special Virtual Summit held in April and the ASEAN+3 Special Virtual Economic Ministers' Meeting held in June, which were convened to discuss regional cooperation measures to mitigate the economic impact of COVID-19.

At the 8th East Asia Summit (EAS) Economic Ministers' Meeting, economic and trade ministers from 18 countries, including ASEAN, Korea, China, Japan, India, Australia, New Zealand, the United States, and Russia, discussed cooperation measures among East Asian countries for economic recovery and growth after COVID-19, including WTO reform.

During the meeting, Chief Negotiator Yoo stated that to maintain global supply chains, it is necessary to facilitate the cross-border movement of essential goods, services, and essential personnel such as businesspeople, and to focus on developing technologies related to the digital economy.

He also emphasized that, in the long term, through WTO reform, it is essential to secure the reliability of the multilateral trading system and strengthen roles to induce global-level multilateral cooperation beyond individual countries and regional countries.

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