1. Director-General for Latin American and Caribbean Affairs Huh Tae-wan will visit Quito, Ecuador, from March 25 to 27. During the visit, he will pay a courtesy call on Vice Foreign Minister Suárez, and attend the 6th meeting of the Republic of Korea-Ecuador Joint Committee on March 26.

※ Head of the Ecuadorian delegation: Undersecretary for Africa, Asia and Oceania of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Lourdes Puma

2. In the upcoming meeting, which takes place six years after the fifth meeting in Seoul in April 2012, the two sides will look at a range of issues, including the overall bilateral relations between the ROK and Ecuador, and ways to increase high-level exchanges; the resumption of negotiations on the ROK-Ecuador Strategic Economic Cooperation Agreement (SECA); and trade and investment, development, infrastructure, and defense cooperation. They will also discuss how the two countries can step up substantial cooperation in each area.

o In particular, in the joint committee meeting, the two sides will exchange views on ways to help Korean companies increase their presence in the energy and new industries and participate in government-led projects in Ecuador.

3. In addition, the two sides will take note that the relations between the two countries have grown in various sectors, including trade, investment and people-to-people exchange, and discuss ways to work more closely together within multilateral consultative mechanisms in Latin America, which has great potential for future growth.

4. The forthcoming meeting is expected to serve as an opportunity for the governments of the two countries, which were inaugurated at a similar time (May 2017), to review their cooperative relations in a range of areas, and to deepen and expand the bilateral relations in various sectors.

* unofficial translation