1. The five MIKTA countries -- the Republic of Korea, the United Mexican States, the Republic of Indonesia, the Republic of Turkey, and the Commonwealth of Australia -- held a Senior Officials’ Meeting (SOM) in the form of a video conference at 13:00, June 10 (Korea Standard Time), and discussed their responses to COVID-19 and ways for the five MIKTA countries to work together.

o The meeting was held at the proposal of the ROK, the chair of MIKTA for this year, and was chaired by Deputy Minister for Multilateral and Global Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Ham Sang-wook.

2. MIKTA senior officials shared information on the current COVID-19 situations in the five countries, as well as their respective governments’ policy efforts at home and abroad.

o The ROK side explained that the ROK government has implemented domestic measures, including offering emergency relief funds, to recover from the economic contraction caused by the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic. It also stressed that the ROK government has taken the lead in increasing global cooperation based on the principles of openness, transparency, and civic engagement, including by seeking ways to grant an exemption for essential international travel to ensure a swift recovery of the global economy.

o In addition, the ROK side said that the Groups of Friends launched at the initiative of the ROK in May as a platform to facilitate international collaboration during the current pandemic are carrying out their activities at the United Nations, the World Health Organization (WHO), and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), and asked for active cooperation from the MIKTA member states.

3. MIKTA senior officials shared the view that collaboration among countries is all the more important amid the prolonged pandemic, and agreed to continue close collaboration among the MIKTA members not only in responding to the current health crisis, but also in other various areas, including easing the extensive economic and social impact and supporting vulnerable countries.

o The participants noted with appreciation that after leading the adoption of the MIKTA Foreign Ministers’ Joint Statement on COVID-19 response in April, the ROK has played a central role in MIKTA’s cooperation on COVID-19 response, including by holding two Senior Officials’ Meetings and leading the inaugural consultative meeting of development cooperation agencies.

o The ROK side reminded the participants that collaboration among countries is essential to achieve the two goals of controlling the infectious disease and bringing economies and societies back on track at the same time, and said that the ROK, as this year’s chair, will explore different ways to step up MIKTA’s cooperation on COVID-19 response on various occasions.