Ministry of Foreign Affairs Discusses Post-COVID 'New Cooperation Vision' with Central American Countries

Held in a Hybrid Format of Online and Offline on the 14th... Deputy Minister Kim Expresses Gratitude for Support of the Korean Peninsula Peace Process
Director Yoo Myung-hee Also Requests Support

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, co-hosting with Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, held a hybrid seminar both in-person and online on the 14th at the Seoul Plaza Hotel to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the Central American Integration System (SICA) next year. The seminar discussed new cooperation directions and implementation plans between Korea and the Central American region in the post-COVID-19 era.

According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the 15th, the seminar was attended virtually by senior officials from the foreign ministries of the seven SICA member countries, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the SICA Secretariat, the Secretary-General of the Central American Health Ministers Committee (COMISCA), and heads of Korean diplomatic missions in Central American countries. The Central American diplomatic corps in Korea, as well as domestic experts from the Korea Development Institute (KDI), Busan University of Foreign Studies, and the Korea Medical Device Development Fund (KMDF), attended in person.

At the seminar, Kim Geon, Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs, requested senior foreign ministry officials from Central American countries to support Yoo Myung-hee, the Chief Trade Negotiator, in the final round of the election for the next Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO).

Deputy Minister Kim especially expressed gratitude to the Central American countries for supporting Korea’s positions on the Korean Peninsula peace process and other issues on the international stage. He emphasized the need to establish a new cooperation vision for the post-COVID-19 era based on the strengthened trust and cooperation foundation built through joint responses to the COVID-19 crisis, marking the 200th anniversary of Central American independence and the 30th anniversary of SICA next year. Proposed cooperation directions included △ expanding high-level exchanges and revitalizing the Korea-SICA dialogue mechanism, △ achieving mutual growth through Korea’s customized cooperation responding to Central America’s cooperation demands, and △ strengthening cooperation on global challenges such as climate change.

The seminar evaluated past cooperation achievements such as the Korea-Central America Free Trade Agreement (FTA) coming into effect and Korea’s accession to the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI), which laid a new foundation for Korea-Central America cooperation. It also discussed concrete implementation plans for the new Korea-SICA cooperation vision, including revitalizing the Korea-SICA dialogue mechanism.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that it will seek to discover practical cooperation projects contributing to the economic and social development and integration of the Central American region, focusing on areas where Korea has strengths such as healthcare, infrastructure construction, eco-friendly initiatives, information and communication technology (ICT), and human resource development. It also proposed exploring cooperation linked to Korea’s New Deal comprehensive plan and SICA’s digital and eco-friendly regional strategies.

Other Central American and domestic presenters explained the economic environment changes in the Central American region caused by COVID-19 and emphasized sustainable Korea-Central America cooperation in healthcare, infrastructure, digital, and green industries. Above all, they requested active utilization of the Korea-Central America FTA and Korea’s CABEI membership to build a cooperation model for mutual benefit that responds to trade and investment revitalization in the post-COVID-19 era and the global and regional value chain restructuring. In response, the SICA Secretariat stated that the bilateral cooperation between Korea and Central America so far will be further strengthened and developed into regional and multilateral cooperation at the Korea-SICA level.

This seminar is evaluated as meaningful in that it presented a new cooperation vision and discussed a concrete cooperation roadmap as the first extraregional observer from SICA, ahead of historical milestones such as the 200th anniversary of Central American independence and the 30th anniversary of SICA’s establishment next year. It is part of the Korean government’s diplomatic diversification efforts toward the Latin American region following last month’s meeting between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ First Vice Minister and the Latin American diplomatic corps in Korea, engaging with traditional allies in Central America.

Furthermore, through strengthening bilateral and multilateral cooperation with the Central American region, it is expected that Korean companies will be able to more actively enter national infrastructure construction projects in Central America, such as the Dominican LNG tunnel construction project (approximately $198 million) and the Panama Metro Line 3 construction project (approximately $2.5 billion), which Korean companies have recently secured.

Meanwhile, the seminar was broadcast live in real-time through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Latin America and Caribbean Bureau SNS channels.

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