Minister Kang Kyung-hwa Talks with Colombian Foreign Minister... Requests Support for Head Yun Myung-hee

Close Cooperation on COVID-19 Response and Vaccine Development and Distribution

Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha is attending the government questioning session on diplomacy, unification, and security held at the National Assembly plenary session on the 15th, responding to questions from lawmakers. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] On the 16th, Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha held a phone call with Claudia Blum Capurro de Barberi, Colombia's Foreign Minister, discussing the selection of the next Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO), cooperation on the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), and high-level exchange plans for practical cooperation in the post-COVID era.

On this day, Minister Kang emphasized that Yoo Myung-hee, the Chief Negotiator for Trade who is a candidate for the next WTO Director-General, is the right person to restore the multilateral trading system and serve as a bridge between developed and developing countries, requesting Colombia's support. In response, Minister Blum actively evaluated Korea's commitment to the multilateral trading system, Yoo's experience and expertise, and stated that Colombia would continue to closely cooperate with Korea in the election.

Additionally, Minister Kang, marking the 70th anniversary of the outbreak of the Korean War this year, praised Colombia as the only Latin American country that participated in the Korean War and a key diplomatic partner, for strengthening humanitarian aid, development cooperation, and experience sharing to overcome the COVID-19 crisis. She emphasized the need for close cooperation in vaccine development and distribution in preparation for the prolonged COVID-19 situation.

Minister Blum expressed special gratitude for Korea's support, stating that Korea is recognized as a model in the international community for its COVID-19 response and that broad cooperation with Korea has greatly helped Colombia overcome the COVID-19 crisis. The two ministers agreed to continue cooperation to strengthen practical cooperation between the two countries in the post-COVID era, starting with the ‘Korea-Latin America Future Cooperation Forum’ to be held in Seoul this November.

The ‘Korea-Latin America Future Cooperation Forum’ has been held annually since 2008 by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, inviting high-level Latin American officials to discuss various cooperation topics. This year, it is planned to be co-hosted with the Ministry of Health under the theme ‘International Solidarity on Quarantine and Health between Korea and Latin America in the New Normal Era after COVID-19.’ A Foreign Ministry official explained, "This phone call between the two foreign ministers was made at Colombia's request, and through this call, the two countries confirmed their willingness to cooperate on the international stage, including the WTO election, as well as cooperation in the post-COVID era."

Meanwhile, this year marks the 5th year since the Korea-Colombia FTA came into effect, and the two countries are working to expand trade based on their mutually complementary economic structures. In particular, by combining Korea's Digital New Deal and Green New Deal policies announced after COVID-19 with Colombia's digital transformation and clean growth policies, they plan to expand practical cooperation in various fields such as information and communication technology, biotechnology, and infrastructure construction.

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