1. The 17th meeting of the Joint Committee between Korea and the European Union took place in a virtual format on February 9, with Lee Seong-ho, Deputy Minister for Economic Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Gunnar Wiegand, Managing Director of the Asia and Pacific Department of the European External Action Service (EEAS), leading their respective delegations.

° The Joint Committee meeting brought together some 50 delegates from the two sides, including officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, the Ministry of Science and ICT, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety and the Korean Embassy to the EU from Korea, and those from the EEAS and the Directorate-General for Trade of the European Commission from the EU.

2. In the Joint Committee meeting, the two sides noted that Korea and the EU, which share universal values, have deepened their strategic partnership based on the three major bilateral agreements - the Korea-EU Free Trade Agreement (FTA), Framework Agreement and Crisis Management Participation Agreement.

° Recalling the virtual summit held between the  leaders of Korea and the European Commission in June 2020 despite the COVID-19 situation during which the leaders had reaffirmed their commitment to the bilateral strategic partnership, the two sides agreed to work more closely together in addressing bilateral, regional and global issues by making the best use of some 40 well-established bilateral consultative mechanisms.

3. The two sides also reviewed the progress in discussions and achievements in overall economic and trade agenda between Korea and the EU including industrial cooperation, information and communications technology (ICT), transportation, the protection of personal information, and health, and particularly appreciated that the Korea-EU FTA, of which this year marks the 10th anniversary of the entry into force, has contributed to expanding and deepening bilateral economic and trade relations.

° The two sides shared the current state of COVID-19 and ways to respond to it, agreeing that, amid the growing significance of health cooperation for overcoming such infectious diseases as COVID-19, health cooperation between Korea and the EU as well as the international community’s solidarity and multilateralism should continue to increase in responding to the global health crisis.

° With regard to green transition, the Korean side introduced the government’s Green New Deal policy, mentioned that the 2nd Partnering for Green Growth and the Global Goals 2030 (P4G) Summit will take place on May 30 and 31, 2021, and underscored the Korean government’s commitment and efforts to contribute to the international community’s solidarity in realizing carbon neutrality by 2050 and responding to climate change.

4. During the Joint Committee meeting, recalling that, at the Korea-EU summit held in June 2020, the leaders had agreed to strengthen joint efforts to promote connectivity, the two sides agreed to materialize bilateral cooperation in the area of connectivity based on the agreement.

° The two sides, sharing the view on the need for bilateral collaboration at the international stage such as the Group of Twenty (G20), the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), agreed to work closely together on such global issues as climate change, environment and human rights.