'2020 Northeast Asia Peace and Cooperation Intergovernmental Council'... Seeking Multilateral Cooperation After COVID-19

Discussion on Promotion Plans for Northeast Asia Quarantine and Health Cooperation Body

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] On the 15th, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs held the ‘2020 Northeast Asia Peace and Cooperation Intergovernmental Council’ chaired by Deputy Minister Kim Gun.

The ‘Intergovernmental Council’ is part of the ‘Northeast Asia Peace and Cooperation Platform’ project that our government is promoting to accumulate practices of dialogue and cooperation among countries in the region. Every year, representatives from major regional countries including Korea, as well as extraregional dialogue partners, have attended.

This year’s meeting was held as a non-face-to-face video conference with officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of six participating countries in the region: Korea, China, Japan, the United States, Russia, and Mongolia.

At this intergovernmental council, discussions were held on ways to promote multilateral cooperation in the Northeast Asia region for peace and prosperity under the theme of ‘Exploring multilateral cooperation measures in Northeast Asia in the post-COVID-19 era, including the concept of a Northeast Asia quarantine and health cooperation body.’

Deputy Minister Kim, in his opening remarks, expressed hope that countries in the Northeast Asia region would gather wisdom to jointly respond to various challenges in the region and accelerate peace and prosperity. He emphasized that the need for cooperation among countries in Northeast Asia has never been greater, especially in response to the recent COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting environmental changes.

In Session 1, the main outcomes of the ‘2020 Northeast Asia Peace and Cooperation Forum’ held on the 3rd and 4th were shared with the participating countries, and various policy proposals raised at the private sector level to advance multilateral cooperation in the region were reviewed. In Session 2, our government introduced in detail the concept of a ‘Northeast Asia quarantine and health cooperation body’ to jointly respond to cross-border health security crises among countries in the region with active human and material exchanges, and exchanged opinions with governments of each country on specific implementation plans.

The Korean side first explained the concept, which focuses on starting with cooperation on the urgent issue of COVID-19 response and, in the long term, strengthening capabilities to prepare for cross-border health security crises in the region. The participants from each country agreed on the necessity of enhancing cooperation and decided to continue discussions together in the future.

An official from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs evaluated, "This intergovernmental council served as a valuable forum to build consensus among regional countries for promoting the ‘Northeast Asia quarantine and health cooperation body’ amid the global spread of COVID-19 and the fluid regional and international situation, and to explore trust-building and cooperation measures among countries for sustainable peace and prosperity in the Northeast Asia region."

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