1. The “5^th Republic of Korea-United States Senior Economic Dialogue (SED)” was held in a virtual format on October 14, with Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Lee Taeho and U.S. Under Secretary of State for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment Keith Krach leading their respective delegations.

o Although the Dialogue was held in a virtual format, it was attended by a large U.S. delegation of about 40 people from the Department of State, the Department of the Treasury, the Department of Health and Human Services, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and the International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), which showed the U.S. side’s significant interest in the ROK-U.S. partnership for economic cooperation. Among the participants from the U.S. were Ambassador and Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of Energy Resources Virginia Palmer, Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women’s Issues Kelley Currie, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Trade Policy and Negotiations Matt Murray, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Korea and Japan Marc Knapper, U.S. Senior Official for APEC and Deputy Assistant Secretary for Australia, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands Sandra Oudkirk, Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of International Security and Nonproliferation Gonzalo Suarez, Science and Technology Adviser to the Secretary Mung Chiang, and USAID Assistant to the Administrator for Policy, Planning and Learning Chris Maloney.

2. At the 5^th Dialogue, the heads of the delegations of the two countries took note that the ROK and the U.S. have closely worked together in responding to COVID-19 based on their strong economic partnership, and shared the view that it is crucial to enhance bilateral partnership for economic cooperation in order to promote the global economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.

o In particular, the two sides noted with appreciation that the close cooperation in the fight against the pandemic, including the efforts to maintain air linkages between the two countries, participation in teleconference among vice foreign ministers of seven countries in the region, and the procurement of test kits and the assistance of face masks, have become exemplary cases of the ROK-U.S. cooperative partnership. They also exchanged views on the ways to strengthen the resilience of global supply chains in response to concerns over the global economic downturn after COVID-19.

3. The two sides also reviewed the results of discussions held so far to seek bilateral cooperation in science and technology and energy, and discussed ways for continuous cooperation.

o On cooperation in science and technology, the two sides agreed to continue consultations on the extension of the ROK-U.S. Science and Technology Agreement. On energy cooperation, they agreed to hold the ROK-U.S. energy policy dialogue in 2021 to continue the momentum of the 7^th ROK-U.S. Energy Security Dialogue and Track 1.5 Roundtable Discussion held in August.

4. In addition, the two sides exchanged views on ways to expand cooperation in line with the ROK’s New Southern Policy and the U.S. Indo-Pacific Strategy, as well as global issues, including women’s economic empowerment, ICT, and emerging technologies.

o Regarding concrete cooperation in line with the New Southern Policy and the Indo-Pacific Strategy, the two sides particularly commended the progress in the fields of development, infrastructure, and energy and resources, and agreed to continue to collaborate in exploring new cooperative projects in the areas.

o On women’s economic empowerment, the two sides noted with appreciation that they had held two roundtables in December last year and September this year, respectively, in order to implement the “Action Plan on R.O.K-US Partnership on Women’s Economic Empowerment” adopted at the 4^th SED (November 6, 2019). Based on the results of such consultations, the two sides agreed to actively pursue people-to-people exchanges in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) fields and concrete cooperation projects, including the establishment of a permanent networking forum for entrepreneurs.

o Furthermore, the two sides discussed the possibility of cooperation in new areas, including artificial intelligence and quantum computing, and exchanged views on economic security.

5. Meanwhile, the head delegates of the two sides expressed their expectation on the “4^th ROK-U.S. Joint Public-Private Economic Forum” taking place on October 22 in a virtual and face-to-face format (in Washington, D.C.) under the theme of cooperation in line with the New Southern Policy and the Indo-Pacific Strategy and bilateral cooperation in innovative areas in the post-COVID-19 era. Through this forum, the two countries will continue to develop new agendas for economic cooperation by collecting various policy proposals from the private sector, and exploring a new direction for the partnership.

6. At the 5^th SED, the two sides reaffirmed the significance of the ROK-U.S. partnership for economic cooperation as one of the core pillars of the ROK-U.S alliance; and noted the importance of the SED as the highest-level economic forum between the diplomatic authorities of the two countries for progress in the economic cooperation partnership and the director-general-level preparatory consultations; and agreed to hold the 6^th ROK-U.S. SED and the 5^th ROK-U.S. Joint Public-Private Economic Forum in the ROK in 2021.