1. Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha attended the ASEAN+3 Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Singapore on August 4. In the meeting, she reviewed the progress in cooperation within the ASEAN+3 mechanism, which marks its 21st anniversary this year, and exchanged views on the way forward for future cooperation.

※ ASEAN+3: a regional consultative mechanism which was established between 10 ASEAN countries, and the ROK, Japan and China to tackle the 1997 Asian financial crisis together, and focuses on functional cooperation

2. Minister Kang took note that ASEAN+3 had steadily accomplished achievements in a range of areas, including financial cooperation, food security, and cultural and people-to-people exchanges. She especially noted that ASEAN+3 had increased substantive cooperation to strengthen the financial safety net in the region, including through the Chiang Mai Initiative Multilateralization (CMIM), amid the recent protectionism trends in major countries, and rising trade disputes that resulted from them. She stressed the need for countries in East Asia, heavily dependent on foreign trade, to continue cooperation in the area.

o In addition, Minister Kang emphasized the importance of cooperation between countries in Northeast Asia and Southeast Asia regardless of where they are located under the joint vision of an East Asian community. She also stressed that the ROK government, which had led regional cooperation in East Asia, including through the activities of the first and second East Asia Vision Groups (EAVG), would continue to play active roles in the area.

※ The East Asia Vision Group (EAVG) was formed to conduct research into the mid- to long-term vision of regional cooperation in East Asia, and consists of incumbent and former government officials and scholars from the member states of ASEAN+3.

- The first and second East Asia Vision Groups were established in 1999 and 2011, respectively, at the proposal of the then-Presidents of the ROK (former Presidents Kim Dae-jung and Lee Myung-bak).

o Minister Kang took note that the ROK-Japan-China summit took place in May this year two and a half years after the last one, and expected that ASEAN+3, by playing a bridging role in cooperation between ASEAN, and the ROK, Japan and China, and by maintaining a virtuous cycle of cooperation between the two sides, would contribute to establishing sustainable peace in the region.

3. The Foreign Ministers from the ASEAN+3 members took note that ASEAN+3, launched to jointly respond to the 1997 Asian financial crisis, had become the most institutionalized mechanism for functional cooperation in the region, and expressed their willingness to continue to strengthen cooperation in a range of areas, including healthcare, poverty eradication, terrorism, and cyber security.

o They reaffirmed the importance of regional cooperation in East Asia to promote sustainable peace and prosperity amid the growing protectionism and anti-globalization trends. They also stressed the need to make efforts towards economic integration, including concluding the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) as early as possible this year, and implementing recommendations made by the EAVG II, and pledged to faithfully implement the APT Cooperation Work Plan 2018-2022, adopted last year.

※ APT Cooperation Work Plan: a document that sets out the way forward for ASEAN+3 cooperation in a range of areas, including politics and security; economy and finance; social and cultural affairs; environment; and connectivity.

o Minister Kang explained the ROK government’s efforts to enhance ASEAN+3 cooperation, including rice donation through the ASEAN Plus Three Emergency Rice Reserve (APTERR); establishing a network among universities in East Asia; and cooperation on youth exchange programs among the ROK, Chinese and Japanese ASEAN centers. She also expressed the ROK’s willingness to contribute to promoting global values, including free trade, and improving the quality of people’s lives, which the ROK’s New Southern Policy focuses on.

4. Meanwhile, all participating Foreign Ministers shared the view that co-prosperity of East Asia cannot be achieved without peace and stability in the region. Regarding this, saying that the two inter-Korean summits and the US-North Korea summit in the first half of the year paved the way towards complete denuclearization and the establishment of peace on the Korean Peninsula, Minister Kang hoped to see more cooperation between ASEAN and the ROK, Japan, and China on the issue.

o The Foreign Ministers from the ASEAN+3 member states took note of the ROK government’s leading efforts to make progress in the situation, and made it clear that their countries would cooperate more closely with the ROK government in implementing the Panmunjeom Declaration.

* unofficial translation