1. Minister of Foreign Affairs Kang Kyung-wha met in Pohang on November 8 with Minister for the Development of the Russian Far East of the Russian Federation Alexander KOZLOV, who was on a visit to the Republic of Korea for the first ROK-Russia interregional cooperation forum. In the meeting, the two Ministers took note of the bilateral relations and exchanged views on ROK-Russia substantive cooperation in the Russian Far East as well as the way forward for the ROK-Russia interregional cooperation forum.

※ The 1st ROK-Russia interregional cooperation forum (Pohang, November 7-9)

- A platform for comprehensive cooperation between provincial governments of the two countries, including the ROK’s metropolitan governments and the Russian Far East government, launched in 2018 pursuant to the agreement between the Presidents of the two countries.

- Participants: The heads of 17 metropolitan government agencies of the ROK and the governors of the 9 provincial governments of the Russian Far East as well as entrepreneurs, experts and students from provinces of the two countries.

- The event featured congratulatory remarks by President Moon Jae-in, who attended the forum's launching ceremony, as well as those by President Putin (delivered by Minister Kozlov).

2. The two Ministers, welcoming increasing high-level exchanges, such as President Moon Jae-in’s state visit to Russia in June, trade volume and people-to-people exchanges, agreed to work closely together to maintain this positive momentum. 

° The two Ministers voiced hope that exchanges and cooperation between the ROK and the Russian Far East, which accounts for more than a third of ROK-Russia trade volume, will grow and help further enhance the relations between the two countries; and agreed to have the ROK Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry for the Development of the Russian Far East continue cooperation to that end.

※ The “nine bridges” are areas of cooperation that President Moon proposed at the third Eastern Economic Forum in September 2017 that the ROK and Russia focus on -- gas exploration, railway construction, power generation, shipbuilding, port construction, the Northern Sea Route development, the farming industry, the fishing industry, and industrial complexes.

4. The two Ministers welcomed that the ROK-Russia interregional cooperation forum was successfully inaugurated as agreed by the Presidents of the two countries, paving the way for all-out cooperation between the ROK’s provincial governments and those of the Russian Far East.

° Minister Kang asked the Russian government to pay keen attention to the second forum to come in Primorsky Krai (Maritime Territory) in 2019 in order for the forum to become a mechanism for direct exchanges and cooperation between provincial governments of the two countries. Minister Kozlov stated that efforts will be made for the second forum to be as productive as its first round.

* unofficial translation