1. On the occasion of the 1^st Senior Officials’ Meeting (SOM) of the APEC 2019 held in Santiago, Chile, Deputy Minister for Economic Affairs Yun Kang-hyeon concluded with the APEC Secretariat on March 7 a memorandum of understanding for the formal launch of and contribution to “the APEC Digital Innovation Fund,” which will be set up at the initiative of the Republic of Korea.

° The MOU signing ceremony brought together Executive Director of the APEC Secretariat Rebecca Fatima Sta Maria, Deputy Minister for Economic Affairs Yun Kang-hyeon, and senior officials of the Commonwealth of Australia and Chinese Taipei, the other contributors to the Fund. 

2. At the APEC Summit in Papua New Guinea in November 2018, President Moon Jae-in pledged to set up “the APEC Digital Innovation Fund” in order for enterprises, consumers, governments and other economic players in the Asia-Pacific region to jointly muster capabilities necessary for building a digital economy. By concluding the MOU, the ROK government has honored the pledge and won participation of Australia and Chinese Taipei.

° The ROK has contributed US$700,000 to the Fund, Australia US$ 350,000 and Chinese Taipei US$200,000, which will be channeled into assisting cooperation projects among APEC member economies designed to implement “the APEC Internet and Digital Economy Roadmap” starting from the second half of the year 2019. The ROK government, on its part, will use the capacity of Korean information and communications technology (ICT) experts to actively seek out projects that could lead discussions on digital economy in the region.

3. The 1^st APEC SOM on March 7-8 will start in earnest discussions among the 21 APEC member economies on preparations for the success of the APEC Summit 2019, which will take place in Santiago, Chile, on November 16-17.

° Chile, the chair of the APEC 2019, has set “Connecting People, Building the Future” as the theme and the following as the key agenda items for the year: “Digital Society,” “Integration 4.0,” “Women, SMEs, and Inclusive Growth,” and “Sustainable Growth.”

° Deputy Minister for Economic Affairs Yun Kang-hyeon will attend the SOM1 in his capacity as head delegate of the ROK, where he will lay out ways that the ROK will contribute to the efforts to address the key agenda items and will seek support and participation of other APEC member economies.

- [Digital Society] The ROK will set up “the Digital Innovation Fund” and conduct cooperation projects using its ICT capabilities; seek ways to cooperate in protecting consumers of digital economy; implement the phase-3 Regional Economic Integration Capacity Building Needs Initiative (CBNI) for developing economies (2018-2020); and build an APEC platform for cooperation on “Mydata.”

- [Integration 4.0] The ROK will analyze how the Authorized Economic Operator (AEO) program -- a system for officially certifying importers, exporters and other business entities that excellently manage safety as authorized economic operators -- is run in the region and find its best practices; hold workshops on ways to use non-binding principles regarding domestic services regulations with the aim to help APEC member economies strengthen their services competitiveness; and conduct a pilot project on the development of the Services Trade Restrictiveness Index (STRI).

- [Women, SMEs, and Inclusive Growth] In a bid to honor the proposal made by  President Moon Jae-in at the APEC Summit 2018, the ROK will compile a book of practices of the APEC inclusion policy; and host a forum on smart factory of small- and medium-sized venture companies.

- [Sustainable Growth] In a follow-up on the 2^nd workshop on “Capacity Building for Marine Debris Prevention and Management in the APEC Region,” the ROK will seek approval for the marine debris management guidelines; and carry out a project for sharing smart agriculture for sustainable growth.

* unofficial translation