1. Minister of Foreign Affairs Kang Kyung-wha held a meeting and a luncheon with Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Colombia Carlos Holmes Trujillo on December 17, during which the two Ministers exchanged a wide range of views on ways to step up the Republic of Korea-Republic of Colombia relations and their substantive cooperation; ways to work together in addressing global issues; and the current situations on the Korean Peninsula and in Latin America.

※ Minister Trujillo is on an official visit to the ROK from December 15 till 19, the first of its kind since the inauguration of the new Colombian government in August 2018.

2. Minister Kang noted with appreciation that the ROK and Colombia, the only Latin American country that had fought alongside the former country in the Korean War and the former’s valuable cooperative partner that had concluded a bilateral FTA with it, have seen their friendly and cooperative ties continuously advance across the board since forging "strategic cooperative partnership" in 2011.

° Minister Trujillo, sharing Minister Kang’s view, voiced hope for stronger substantive cooperation between the two countries in the full range of areas, including not only bilateral matters, such as high-level exchanges and economic cooperation, but also regional and global issues.

3. The two Ministers consulted with each other with regard to the Colombian government’s support for efforts to start as soon as possible negotiations for the ROK’s assistant membership in the Pacific Alliance. They agreed to bolster substantive cooperation in such fields as trade and investment, including the implementation of the bilateral FTA in force since July 2016, infrastructure, and the e-procurement system; and to increase bilateral cooperation on the Colombian government’s work to cultivate knowledge- and information-based cultural contents industry.

° Minister Kang asked for the Colombian government’s attention to and support for bids of Korean enterprises to join various infrastructure-building projects being conducted by the Colombian government.

° Minister Trujillo, underscoring the need for Korean enterprises to continue investing in Colombia, expressed hope for stronger bilateral cooperation on Colombia’s bid to expand its agricultural exports.

※ The Pacific Alliance is a regional economic alliance among Colombia, Mexico, Chile, and Peru that account for 38% of the gross domestic product and 50% of the trade volume of Latin America.

4. The two Ministers agreed to work more closely together on bids of their nationals to expand presence at the UN and other international organizations and in addressing main international issues. Exchanging views on the current situations on the Korean Peninsula and in Latin America, the two sides agreed to step up cooperation.

° In particular, Minister Kang shared with her Colombian counterpart the ROK government’s efforts to achieve complete denuclearization and establish permanent peace on the Korean Peninsula, asking for the Colombian government’s ceaseless support in that regard. Minister Trujillo pledged that the government of Colombia, the ROK’s only Latin American ally that fought alongside it in the Korean War, would render firm and continued support.

5. Foreign Minister Trujillo’s official visit to the ROK, the first of its kind since the inauguration of the new Colombian government in August, is seen to have served as an opportunity to discuss how the two countries can enhance substantive cooperation in a future-oriented way.