1. The 22nd meeting of the Republic of Korea-China Joint Economic Committee took place at the Ministry of Commerce in Beijing, China, on April 20, with Vice Foreign Minister Cho Hyun and Vice Minister of Commerce of China Gao Yan leading their respective delegations. The meeting was attended by officials from relevant government agencies of the two countries.

※ Participants from the ROK side included officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Strategy and Finance, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, and the ROK Embassy in China. Participants from the Chinese side included officials from the Ministry of Commerce, and other relevant agencies.

o The two sides took note that since the ROK-China summit in December last year, high-level consultations between the governments of the two countries, and exchanges between provinces have been facilitated. They also engaged in extensive discussions to strengthen economic cooperation at bilateral and multilateral levels.

2. (Discussions on future-oriented cooperation) The two sides especially discussed ways of cooperation to link the ROK’s New Northern and Southern Policies and China’s One Belt, One Road initiative, which they agreed on in principle at the summit in December last year. They agreed to focus on pursuing concrete cooperation projects, and to hold public-private consultations between the two sides in the near future.

3. (Support to create jobs for youth overseas) The ROK side explained that Korean students in China are facing systematic challenges when seeking jobs, and asked the Chinese side to actively consider improving its visa system, and easing work permit requirements for foreigners, to help more Korean students work in China.

※ Major requests made by the ROK side

- The ROK side asked the Chinese side to create a new visa system (job seeker visa) to allow students who just graduated from universities in China to stay in the country for a certain period to look for jobs.

- It also asked the Chinese side to ease work experience requirements among the assessment criteria for foreigner work permits for Korean students in certain cases. (e.g.: applying eased work experience requirements for Korean students landing jobs at the Korea-China Industrial Cooperation Complex, being pursued by the two countries).

※ During his visit to China, Vice Minister Cho Hyun made the aforementioned requests in a separate meeting with the head (vice minister-level) of the State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs of China, in charge of issues regarding the employment of foreigners. The Chinese side said that they will actively look into the requests from the ROK side.

4. (Measures to follow up on the ROK-China summit) The two sides discussed the progress in cooperation and ways to increase it in a range of areas, including energy, agricultural trade, intellectual property rights, health and medical care, and environment, which the leaders of the two countries agreed to follow up on in their meeting in December last year.

o The ROK side especially stressed the need to strengthen cooperation between the two countries to come up with measures to jointly respond to find dust at bilateral and multilateral levels. The ROK side also asked for the Chinese side’s continued interest and cooperation to better protect Korean companies’ intellectual property rights.

o The two sides agreed to step up cooperation in the area of health and medical care by steadily implementing the “ROK-China MOU on cooperation in health and medical care,” which was concluded during the bilateral summit last year. The ROK side asked for the Chinese government’s interest and cooperation to ensure a smooth implementation of the Seoul National University Hospital’s project for establishing an ROK-China cancer hospital in Beijing, as well as the Yonsei University Severance Hospital’s project for building Severance Hospital in Qingdao (1,000 beds).

5. (Explaining difficulties faced by Korean companies) The ROK side asked for the Chinese side’s proactive measures to swiftly resolve difficulties facing Korean companies regarding subsidies for electric car batteries; administrative regulations on Lotte Mart and the sale of its stores in China; the Shenyang Lotte World Project; Chinese group tourists to the ROK, and cultural contents. The Chinese side said that since Member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China Yang Jiechi’s visit to the ROK in March, close consultations with relevant government agencies and provincial governments have been underway to resolve difficulties faced by relevant Korean companies.

6. (Continued efforts towards trade liberalization) The two sides took note of the start of the follow-up negotiations in March this year on the services and investment sectors of the ROK-China FTA, and agreed to strengthen efforts for negotiations in the areas in order to upgrade the economic and cooperative relations between the two countries. They also agreed to continue to work together to conclude negotiations on the ROK-China-Japan FTA and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) in order to promote trade liberalization in the region.

o The two sides expressed concern over the spread of protectionism around the world, and shared the view that the multilateral system based on free trade and the WTO is important.

* unofficial translation