1. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, together with the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) and the member states of the Pacific Alliance (PA), will hold a Republic of Korea-Pacific Alliance cooperation forum in Lima, the Republic of Peru, on December 11. The purpose of the event is to seek new areas for sustainable cooperation with the PA, a major economic bloc in Latin America and a lately emerging promising market for the ROK.

※ The Pacific Alliance is an economic alliance established in April 2011 among the United Mexican States, the Republic of Chile, the Republic of Peru and the Republic of Colombia that share such values as democracy, free trade and open market, and account for 35% of the gross domestic product and 50% of the trade volume in Latin America. As of November 2018, 55 countries, including the ROK, have joined the organization as its observers.  

° The forthcoming forum will mark the first of its kind to take place to seek ways for substantive bilateral cooperation between the ROK and the four PA member states. The event will bring together some 60 people, including officials of the Foreign Ministry, KOICA, the Korea Food and Drug Administration, and the Mine Reclamation Corporation, as well as civilian experts in the area of development cooperation from the ROK; and senior officials of Peru, the current PA chair, experts in the Technical Groups in different areas, and working-level officials of development cooperation-related government agencies of the four PA countries.

° The ROK Embassy in Peru will air the upcoming forum live on its SNSs, sharing what will be discussed at the event with relevant organizations, experts and the public who will not attend the event.

2. The forum will feature presentations by and discussions among government officials and experts from the ROK and the PA member states on progress in the two sides’ respective development cooperation efforts and their way forward; preferred areas for bilateral cooperation; and ways to build sustainable cooperation models between the two sides.

° KOICA will deliver a presentation on the progress in and the main areas of the ROK’s development cooperation with Latin America. The Korea Food and Drug Administration and the Mine Reclamation Corporation will speak about ways that the ROK and the PA can work together in building regulatory capabilities for bio and pharmaceutical products and in managing and restoring damaged mines.

° The PA delegation will give presentations on ways to work together in such areas as information and communications technology (ICT)-based smart tourism, -- the PA’s preferred field of cooperation with the ROK -- small- and medium-sized enterprises, education, consumer protection, and trade facilitation.

3. Since joining the PA as one of its observers in 2013, the ROK has continuously taken part in high-level dialogue with the PA. After being declared at the PA summit in July 2018 as a partner for negotiations for the country’s accession to the PA as an assistant member, the ROK has focused on further enhancing its cooperative ties with the PA.

° At the upcoming forum, the ROK and the PA are expected to seek sustainable cooperation projects between them, paving the way for building new, mutually beneficial cooperative ties between the two sides.

* unofficial translation