1. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs held the launching ceremony for “the Republic of Korea-Pacific Islands Trade & Tourism Promotion Project” at the official residence of the Foreign Minister, Seoul, on March 13.

° The event brought together some 60 people, including the Chairperson and other officials of the South Pacific Tourism Organisation (SPTO); delegates from tourism agencies of the Pacific Island countries (PICs); the Ambassadors and other diplomats to the ROK from the Republic of Fiji and the Independent State of Papua New Guinea; and entrepreneurs from the two sides. Vice Foreign Minister of the ROK Lee Tae-ho also attended and delivered welcoming remarks at the ceremony.

2. In his welcoming remarks, Vice Minister Lee expressed the hope of the ROK, which shares with the majority of the PICs such historical experiences as colonial occupation by another country, wars, and independence, to share with them its experience of and knowhow for rapid economic growth, thereby becoming a genuine partner for the PICs' socio-economic development.

° In addition, the Vice Minister asked the SPTO and the Korea Importers Association to contribute more to the efforts to promote trade and tourism between the ROK and the PICs; and voiced hope that the Project would help to enormously boost people-to-people and materials exchanges between the two sides, thereby bringing their people closer emotionally and steadily advancing their relations.

° “The ROK-Pacific Islands Trade & Tourism Promotion Project” is one of the development cooperation projects conducted with “the ROK-Pacific Island Forum (PIF) Cooperation Fund,” to which the ROK government has contributed since 2008 in order to step up substantive cooperation with the PICs. The Project will be implemented over the next two years.

° By conducting the Project, the ROK will broaden the scope of its official development assistance (ODA) to the PICs to include not only health and medical care, and infrastructure improvement -- the main areas of cooperation of the past -- but also trade and tourism. As such, the Project is expected to pave the way for better understanding between people and sustainable economic development of the two sides.

* unofficial translation