1. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Latin American and Caribbean Affairs Bureau) held the first plenary meeting of the “FEALAC Seoul Club,” attended by working-level diplomats from embassies of the member states of FEALAC (Forum for East Asia-Latin America Cooperation), in Seoul on July 19.

※ FEALAC, the only intergovernmental multilateral consultative mechanism between East Asia (16 countries) and Latin America (20 countries), was established in 1999 to enhance mutual understanding, friendship and cooperation.

※ The ROK hosted the FEALAC Cyber Secretariat in 2011 to address the forum’s structural weakness that it had no permanent secretariat, and has been contributing to the development of FEALAC, including by serving as Regional Coordinator (2015-2017); hosting the 8th Foreign Ministers’ meeting (August 2017, Busan); and playing a leading role in establishing the FEALAC Trust Fund, and serving as chair of its Steering Committee.

o The first meeting of the FEALAC Seoul Club, held together with a ceremony to officially launch the Club, was attended by working-level diplomats (one from each embassy) from 29 embassies in the ROK out of 36 member states.

※ Out of 36 member states of FEALAC (including the ROK), 33 countries except Cuba and Suriname opened their embassies in the ROK.

2. In the meeting, the participants shared what their countries were doing to prepare their cooperation projects (the ROK’s cooperation project is the 2018 FEALAC Youth Summit, to be held in Seoul in late August), and FEALAC’s major upcoming events; exchanged views on key issues facing FEALAC; and discussed how to operate the FEALAC Seoul Club.

o The participants decided to carry out joint outreach activities, including lectures, briefing sessions, and talk concerts, to increase people’s awareness of FEALAC, and as officials of diplomatic missions in the ROK, they also decided to do volunteer work to increase their sense of solidarity with the local community.

o To promote friendship among working-level diplomats, they also agreed to work to hold side events, including sports and leisure activities (friendly soccer match, mountain climbing, etc.), and cultural activities (traditional culture experience, visit to attractions, etc.).

3. The launch of the FEALAC Seoul Club was proposed by the ROK side to facilitate exchanges and communications, and increase solidarity among the FEALAC members, with the ROK, the host country of the Cyber Secretariat, playing a leading role. The club is expected to contribute to raising people’s awareness of FEALAC in the ROK by sharing FEALAC’s major activities on a regular basis (twice a year), and conducting a range of outreach activities.

4. In the meeting, the participants expressed congratulations on the overall restructuring of the website of FEALAC (officially opened on July 19), being managed by the ROK as part of measures to follow up on the “New FEALAC Action Plan,” which the FEALAC members agreed on at its 8th Foreign Ministers’ meeting (August 2017, Busan). The awards ceremony for a photo competition, where the peoples of all member states of FEALAC participated to commemorate the restructuring of the website, also took place during the meeting.

※ Major changes made to the FEALAC website

- restructuring the menus of the desktop website, and changing the design of the website

- building a mobile website

- adding a function for real-time communication between liaison officers of member states

* unofficial translation