1. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs will hold the eighth meeting of the Republic of Korea-Bolivia joint committee in La Paz, Bolivia, on July 18.

° The ROK and Bolivian head delegates to the meeting will be Director-General for Latin American and Caribbean Affairs Huh Tae-wan and director-general for bilateral relations Ricardo Javier Martinez of the Foreign Ministries of the two countries, respectively.

※ The delegates to the meeting will be from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT), and other government agencies of the ROK; and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Defense, and the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of Bolivia.

2. At the joint committee meeting to come eight years after the seventh of its kind held in 2010, the two sides will review the full range of matters concerning the ROK-Bolivia relations; high-level exchanges; and bilateral cooperation at the UN and other multilateral organizations, and in such areas as construction, infrastructure, development, defense industry, consular affairs and culture. They will also discuss ways to step up substantive cooperation in each field.

° In particular, the two sides will seek ways to work closely together in supporting bids of Korean companies to build presence in Bolivia’s construction and infrastructure sectors as well as in conducting MOLIT’s assistance projects in Bolivia. The ROK side will ask for active cooperation of the Bolivian government in ensuring the safety of and protecting the steadily growing number of Korean travelers in Bolivia.

※ According to the National Statistical Office of Bolivia, the number of Korean travelers in Bolivia stood at 7,004 in 2014, 9,568 in 2015, and 10,643 in 2016, up about 24% over the past three years. The number for 2017 is estimated at around 20,000.

3. The joint committee meeting is expected to serve as a useful opportunity to seek ways to achieve more progress in cooperation with Bolivia, a country with great growth potential, as well as to intensify and broaden the scope of bilateral cooperation to include various sectors.

* unofficial translation