1. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs held “the fourth Green Round Table” at Lotte Hotel, downtown Seoul, on July 27.

※ The “Green Round Table” is a forum launched in 2016 to discuss ways to cooperate and create synergies among green growth related international organizations and relavant Korean institutions.

° The event brought together some 120 people, including officials of such government agencies as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Environment; representatives from relevant organizations, including the Export-Import Bank of Korea, the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), Korea Environment Corporation, K-Water and the Korea Environment Institute, as well as such companies as Kolon Eco One, Daesung Clean Energy and The Wave Talk; officials of the P4G (Partnering for Green Growth and the Global Goals 2030) Hub; and foreign diplomats to the ROK.

2. The P4G platform launched in the ROK during the Green Round Table event is expected to support the efforts of the P4G partner countries to create connectivity and implement partnership among them, and thereby to step up private-public cooperation for green growth in the global community.

* The Denmark-led P4G is a cooperative mechanism formally launched during the UN General Assembly session in September 2017 to boost private-public partnership for green growth and to accelerate efforts to implement the Paris Agreement and the sustainable development goals (SDGs).

3. At the event, Ambassador for Climate Change Yoo Yeon-chul delivered opening remarks, in which he reaffirmed the significance of the ROK-Denmark green alliance on climate change and other environmental issues; and calling private-public partnership and the participation of various stakeholders essential for the resolution of environmental issues, stressed that the P4G and its platform in the ROK would serve as a catalyst in boosting global partnership.

° In his congratulatory remarks, Park Cheon-kyoo, head of the Planning and Coordination Office of the Ministry of Environment, shared with the participants the ROK government’s plans to seek a shift to green circular economy pursuant to “the Framework Act on Resource Circulation” to be brought into force later in the year, the Ministry of Environment-led efforts to unify water management systems in an environmentally friendly and sustainable way, and the ROK’s national SDGs (K-SDGs); and underscored the importance of cooperation with the P4G.

° Danish Ambassador to the ROK Thomas Lehmann highlighted the significance the ROK carried to Denmark as the latter’s important ally on green values and as a major P4G partner country; and noted with appreciation that the launch of the P4G platform in the ROK would pave the way for P4G activities.

° P4G Hub Director Ian de Cruz, informing the participants of the P4G vision and work plan, stressed that the ROK was playing a pivotal role as a leader on green growth-related issues among the P4G partner countries and that the country’s leadership would be a driving force for a sustainable growth.

4. Sessions I and II of the Green Round Table focused on ways to build a circular economy and ways for a sustainable management of water, respectively. In addition, extensive and in-depth discussions took place mainly on projects conducted by relevant organizations and enterprises.

* Among such projects were the reuse of electric car batteries in Jeju, ROK-ASEAN economic cooperation on resource circulation, K-water’s consumer-centered assistance project, and the Tina River hydropower development project in the Solomon Islands.

5. Through the P4G platform launched in the ROK, the ROK government will seek to further step up private-public partnership in the area of green economy and to contribute to global efforts to respond to climate change and achieve SDGs.