1. The Foreign Ministry held the fifth meeting of the Republic of Korea-Portugal joint economic commission in Lisbon, Portugal, on February 27. The meeting covered issues concerning bilateral economic cooperation as well as global issues: Among the topics discussed were the economic growths of the two countries; ways to boost trade and investment; achievements in economic cooperation in each sector and potential new areas of cooperation; and the ROK-EU FTA and Brexit.

° The ROK and Portuguese head delegates to the meeting were Deputy Foreign Minister for Economic Affairs Yun Kang-hyeon and Secretary of State of Internationalization Eurico Brilhante Dias of the Foreign Ministry, respectively.

※ The ROK-Portuguese joint economic commission was set up pursuant to the bilateral “Agreement on Economic, Industrial and Technical Cooperation” concluded in 1984. Its fourth meeting took place in Seoul in 2016.

※ The ROK-Portugal trade volume stood at 430 million US dollars in 2012, 540 million in 2013, 670 million in 2014, 730 million in 2015, 670 million in 2016, and 730 million in 2017.

- The ROK’s main exports to Portugal include plastic and rubber goods, automobiles, mobile phones, and steel and other metals.

- Among the ROK’s main imports from Portugal are rubber, machinery, clothes, shoes and agricultural products.

2. In the meeting, the two sides reviewed the progress in the follow-up on the key matters concerning bilateral economic cooperation, including in the fields of science, technology, air services, new and renewable energy, culture, tourism and people-to-people exchanges, which had been discussed at the fourth meeting held in Seoul in November 2016.

° The two sides agreed to expedite the conclusion of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for a stronger cooperation on information and communications technology (ICT) and to accelerate the domestic procedures involving the bilateral agreement on air services, the negotiation for which had been completed in 2016, and sign it in 2018.

3. The two sides discussed ways to diversify the areas of cooperation to include such new ones as maritime affairs, healthcare, and food safety and relevant regulations, agreeing to explore the possibility of increasing economic cooperation by working together in the sectors of construction and infrastructure and jointly seeking presence in third countries.

° In particular, the Portuguese side shared with the ROK side the Portuguese government’s plan to dispatch a delegation to the ROK in the first half of 2018 to explore possible areas of participation and investment for Korean companies in the major state-run “Lisbon South Bay” project; and voiced hope that Korean companies’ presence in Portugal’s construction and infrastructure sectors will help the country advance its infrastructure sector.

4. The two countries took note of the rapid progress in exchanges and cooperation in various areas and agreed to hold the sixth meeting of the joint economic commission in Seoul in 2020. The two countries also agreed to decide before the sixth meeting, in 2018 if possible, on new fields of cooperation, including by signing the agreement on air services and concluding MOUs on ICT and for joint entries into markets of third countries.

* unofficial translation