1. Minister of Foreign Affairs Kang, Kyung-wha hosted the 17th MIKTA (Mexico, Indonesia, the Republic of Korea, Turkey and Australia) Foreign Ministers’ Meeting at 1:00 pm, July 17, Korea Standard Time. At the meeting held at the proposal of the Republic of Korea, the Chair of MIKTA, the foreign ministers of the five member states of MIKTA discussed ways to strengthen multilateralism amid the COVID-19 situation as well as ways to take MIKTA forward.

° The first-ever MIKTA ministerial video conference was chaired by Minister Kang and brought together the foreign ministers of all of the other member states of MIKTA -- Mexico, Indonesia, Turkey and Australia.

2. The foreign ministers of the five MIKTA countries underscored in one voice the urgent need to strengthen multilateralism for cooperation and solidarity of the international community amid the current COVID-19 pandemic; shared the view that there is a greater need than ever for middle power countries, such as the member countries of MIKTA, to fulfill their responsibility and play their part; and agreed to further step up collaboration among the five MIKTA countries on the multilateral stage, including the United Nations.

° Minister Kang mentioned that the ROK, underlining the need for the international community’s coordinated response to the pandemic from its outset, has made active efforts to promote international solidarity and cooperation, including by leading the launch of groups of friends at the UN, the World Health Organization and UNESCO, sharing its experiences in disease prevention and control with the entire world, and providing humanitarian assistance to about 108 countries.

° Furthermore, Minister Kang commended the seven-year track record of MIKTA for actively carrying out joint activities despite the regional and national differences. She went on to suggest that, building upon such efforts, the five MIKTA countries collaborate more closely together on the multilateral stage, including the UN, in order to ensure that the UN’s 75^th anniversary this year becomes an opportunity to mobilize commitment of the UN member states to reinforcing multilateralism.

° The foreign ministers of the MIKTA countries assessed that, even before the pandemic, it had been difficult to accomplish various tasks, including social inclusion, gender equality and sustainable development, and, yet, that the pandemic is posing a threat even to the progress made to date. The foreign ministers, acknowledging MIKTA’s timely collaboration since the adoption of the ministerial joint statement on COVID-19 on April 9, including eight video conferences and three joint statements, agreed to continue bolstering MIKTA cooperation on the international stage through various channels in the second half of the year.

3. On the occasion of the meeting, at the initiative of the ROK, the foreign ministers of the MIKTA member states adopted a joint statement to welcome the election of Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the National Assembly of Turkey Volkan Bozkır as the 75th President of the General Assembly, the election of Mexico as a non-permanent member of the Security Council for the 2021-2022 term, and the election of Mexico and Indonesia as members of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) for the 2021-2023 term.