1. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs held the 7th Republic of Korea-European Union Policy Consultation on Development Cooperation in Seoul on April 26, 2019. The ROK and EU head delegates to the meeting were Director-General for Development Cooperation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Oh Hyun-joo and Director of International Cooperation and Development Policy Felix Fernandez-Shaw, respectively.

° The ROK and the EU have held the director-general-level Policy Consultation on Development Cooperation since 2008. In particular, having held the Policy Consultation on an annual basis since 2014, the two sides are continuously strengthening their partnership in the field of international development cooperation.

2. The two sides exchanged views on a variety of agenda items, including the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the EU Emergency Trust Fund for Africa (EUTF for Africa), and gender equality.

° The ROK side explained that the ROK had had the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development reflected in the country’s Framework Act on International Development Cooperation and the relevant policy as the country’s basic goal in development cooperation, and had set K-SDGs in a bid to implement the Agenda in the country.

- The EU side explained that as the current Voluntary National Reviews system lets member states of the UN report on their progress in the implementation of the SDGs  based on their own criteria, the EU will contribute to the establishment of a common reporting system on implementation progress.

° The ROK made a comment that the EUTF for Africa, which provides assistance to refugees in Africa and seeks economic development of Africa simultaneously, is an exemplary case for the humanitarian assistance and development nexus and suggested that the two sides continue exploring ways the ROK can contribute to the Fund.

° In addition, the ROK side introduced the “Action with Women and Peace” initiative launched in June 2018 as well as the projects designed to help Rohingya refugees in the People's Republic of Bangladesh and survivors of sexual violence in the Central African Republic, which are being pursued as part of the efforts to implement the initiative.

※ The initiative was launched by the ROK government to contribute more actively to the areas of “Women, Peace and Security,” which have become a major agenda of the international community.
- Under the initiative, the ROK government is conducting development cooperation projects related to addressing sexual violence in conflict, and will regularly hold international conferences on women, peace and security.

3. The ROK and the EU are mutually complementary in their development cooperation efforts, as the former focuses on Asia and the Pacific and the latter on Africa, respectively. In this vein, the two sides agreed to increase bilateral cooperation in these regions, including by exploring the possibility of conducting joint cooperation projects.

° The ROK side explained to the EU side how it came to establish the “Policy Framework for Government-Civil Society Partnership in International Development Cooperation” in January this year, and gave a brief presentation on its main content.

- The EU side suggested that amid the growing importance of the participation of the private sector, the ROK and the EU continue to jointly seek ways to work more closely with the civil society.

* unofficial translation