1. The Foreign Ministry, together with the Korea Institute for International Economic Policy (KIEP), will host the fifth seminar on the partnership between the Republic of Korea and the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) in Seoul on December 8.

2. At the seminar themed “New Cooperation for the Next Decade,” the participants, including a total of five invited high-ranking members of the SAARC Secretariat and relevant foreign ministry officials of its member states, will review the achievements from the ROK-SAARC cooperation since the former’s accession to the latter in 2006 as an observer. They will also discuss in depth ways to step up the ROK-SAARC cooperation.

3. The ROK Foreign Ministry, in a bid to expand information exchanges and seek out fields for substantive cooperation with South Asian countries, which are rapidly emerging in the international community, has hosted the ROK-SAARC seminar on annual basis since 2010. Last year’s round covered the developments in energy cooperation in SAARC and ways to promote the ROK-SAARC cooperation in the field.

4. In particular, the forthcoming seminar, by building upon the outcome of the 18th SAARC Summit held in Kathmandu, Nepal, on November 26 and 27 in three years since the last of its kind, is expected to serve as a good opportunity to gather opinions of relevant officials from the region on the current SAARC and its way forward as well as ways to move the ROK-SAARC relations forward. 


                    Spokesperson and Deputy Minister for Public Relations of MOFA

* unofficial translation