President Moon meets with EU Commission President after 4 months to discuss cooperation on COVID recovery

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Ji-eun] President Moon Jae-in, who is visiting Italy to attend the Group of Twenty (G20) summit, held talks with Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Union (EU) Commission, on the 30th (local time) to exchange views on global issues, Korea-EU cooperation, and the situation on the Korean Peninsula. This meeting was the first summit-level talk in four months since the one held during the G7 summit in June.

The two leaders evaluated that Korea and the EU have been closely cooperating not only to enhance bilateral exchanges and cooperation but also to respond to major international issues such as climate change and health, and agreed to continue efforts to expand and strengthen exchanges and cooperation between the two sides during the COVID-19 recovery process.

In particular, President Moon mentioned that the sufficient introduction of COVID-19 vaccines overseas, including in Europe, helped achieve the goal of vaccinating 70% of the entire population last week.

The two leaders also agreed to jointly contribute to vaccine support for low-income countries and to strengthening the global vaccine supply chain.

They shared the view that climate change is a major concern for both countries and exchanged opinions on their policy efforts to respond to climate change and protect the environment. They agreed to strengthen bilateral and multilateral cooperation to promote a global green transition.

Korea-EU cooperation and issues related to the Korean Peninsula were also discussed. Based on the commonalities between Korea’s New Southern Policy and the EU’s Indo-Pacific cooperation strategy, the two leaders agreed to create synergy between their respective policies and to concretize digital cooperation. President Moon explained the recent situation on the Korean Peninsula and Korea’s policy toward North Korea, and requested the EU’s continued support for the complete denuclearization and peace-building on the Korean Peninsula.

Meanwhile, President Moon expressed hope that the resumption of visa waiver agreements with EU countries would lead to an expansion of people-to-people exchanges between Korea and the EU. The Korean government had temporarily suspended the application of visa waiver agreements since April last year due to COVID-19 but resumed them from this September.

The Blue House stated, "This meeting is evaluated as an opportunity to strengthen strategic communication on ways to develop the strategic partnership and cooperation between the two sides on the international stage."

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