1. The Republic of Korea has been elected as co-chair of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) South East Asia Regional Program (SEARP)*.

* The OECD South East Asia Regional Program (SEARP), launched in 2014, is one of five regional cooperation programs conducted by the OECD to enhance its cooperation with non-OECD countries (One OECD country and one ASEAN country co-chair the program).

o In an inter-sessional meeting of the OECD SEARP Steering Group, held at the OECD headquarters in Paris, France, on January 10, the ROK and Thailand were elected by consensus of OECD and ASEAN member states as co-chairs of the next SEARP Steering Group (three-year term, March 2018-March 2021).

※ Current chairs of the SEARP: Japan and Indonesia

2. The OECD South East Asia Regional Program is the OECD’s regional program launched in 2014 to implement ASEAN countries’ reform programs, facilitate the integration of ASEAN, and increase cooperation between ASEAN and the OECD. It conducts cooperation programs between the OECD and ASEAN countries in nine areas (tax, regulation, investment, education, SME, infrastructure, trade, gender equality and digital innovation) under the leadership of the Steering Group, the supreme decision-making body.

o By serving as SEARP chair, the ROK will play a leading role in a range of cooperation projects that the OECD implements with countries in Southeast Asia, and contribute further to the OECD’s efforts to support ASEAN countries’ implementation of reform programs and the integration of ASEAN.

3. The ROK’s chairmanship of the OECD SEARP is expected to enhance the status of the ROK, a middle-power member state of the OECD, as well as help the ROK’s New Southern Policy achieve more results by linking the policy with the OECD SEARP’s major projects.

* unofficial translation