1. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs hosted the 4^th Republic of Korea (ROK)-United States (U.S.) Senior Economic Dialogue in Seoul on Wednesday, November 6, with Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Lee Tae-ho and Under Secretary of State for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment Keith Krach leading their respective delegations.

○ The 4^th Dialogue brought together 20 U.S. participants including government officials and experts from relevant agencies such as the Department of State, the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and about 20 ROK participants from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Economy and Finance, the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, the Ministry of Science and ICT, the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) and the Korea Overseas Infrastructure and Urban Development Corporation (KIND) among others.

○ The record-breaking number of the U.S. delegates who joined the 4^th Dialogue is seen to have demonstrated that the U.S. side attaches great importance to the ROK-U.S. economic partnership.

2. At the Economic Dialogue, both sides had discussions on bilateral economic partnership between the ROK and the U.S.; cooperation between the New Southern Policy and the Indo-Pacific Strategy in the areas of development, energy, infrastructure, science and technology, and digital connectivity; and ways to enhance cooperation in global agendas such as environment, healthcare and women’s economic empowerment.

○ The two sides confirmed that the bilateral economic partnership, a core pillar of the ROK-U.S. relations, is robust, and noted that bilateral trade and investment relations are expanding in a mutually beneficial way based on such partnership.

○ The Dialogue carries significance in that ways for substantive cooperation linking the New Southern Policy and the Indo-Pacific Strategy were reviewed by sectors such as development, energy, infrastructure, science and technology, and digital connectivity, and further shaped ways for future-oriented cooperation on the basis of existing bilateral trade and investment partnerships.

- In particular, the two sides agreed to step up cooperation on the following issues such as a recent project for building capacity to use data on water resources in the Mekong region, a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on Development Cooperation between the Government of the Republic of Korea and the Government of the United States (the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the USAID) towards the reinforcement of development and cooperation in the ASEAN region and the Republic of India, an MOU to Strengthen Infrastructure Finance and Market Building Cooperation between the Government of the Republic of Korea and the Government of the United States which was first concluded between the financial authorities of the two countries (the Ministry of Economy and Finance and the United States Department of the Treasury) for joint investment in the area of infrastructure, and an MOU on Cooperation in Science, Technology, and Information and Communication Technology with the aim to promote science and technology as well as innovative policies between the Government of the Republic of Korea and the Government of the United States (the Ministry of Science and ICT and the United States Department of Homeland Security).

○ Furthermore, both sides agreed to bolster cooperation in current global issues such as health security, environment, women’s economic empowerment as part of a new partnership agreed by the leaders of the two countries in June 2017.

- With respect to women cooperation which is one of the global cooperation areas, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family and the Department of State adopted an action plan on women’s economic empowerment to draw tangible achievements in the implementation of cooperation projects that they have discussed so far.

- Since the ROK is the first cooperative partner in a project on women’s economic empowerment led by the Department of State, it will set up a ROK-U.S. joint cooperation project plan by 2020 based on existing projects underway.

3. Wrapping up the 4th Dialogue, the two sides adopted the Joint Statement between the Foreign Ministries of the two countries in a bid to step up substantive bilateral cooperation and faithfully carry out specific projects in the future.

○ In the joint statement, the two sides reaffirmed the progress in cooperation by areas and agreed to advance bilateral economic partnership. As part of this, they agreed to hold a director-general-level consultative mechanism between the two countries and thereby reinforce cooperation. In addition, they agreed to hold the 5^th ROK-U.S. Senior Economic Dialogue in Washington DC in 2020.

4. On the occasion of the Dialogue, the two head delegates held a separate meeting, during which they exchanged views on current economic and diplomatic issues between the two countries. The ROK side conveyed its position regarding the automobile-related issue under Section 232 of the U.S. Trade Expansion Act and asked for cooperation on U.S. part.