1. Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Lee Taeho and Minister for Trade Yoo Myung-Hee attended the 31^st APEC Ministerial Meeting (AMM) held virtually on November 16.

o The meeting hosted by Malaysia, the chair of APEC for 2020, brought together ministerial- and vice ministerial-level officials of foreign affairs and trade from the 21 APEC member Economies.

2. During the meeting, foreign and trade ministers reaffirmed the member Economies’ commitment to joint response to COVID-19. They also discussed improving the narrative of trade and investment (Session 1) and inclusiveness, digital economy, and innovative sustainability (Session 2), and adopted the Joint Ministerial Statement based on the discussions.

o The Statement includes facilitating the movement of essential goods and essential movement of people; support for the World Trade Organization (WTO)’s reform; welcoming the adoption of the APEC Post-2020 Vision (tentative name); call for accelerating the implementation of the APEC Internet and Digital Economy Roadmap (AIDER) aimed at promoting digital economy and technological innovation; note of the 2020 APEC Economic Policy Report (AEPR) on Structural Reform and Women’s Empowerment; and call for strengthening cooperation to achieve sustainable development.

3. In Session 1, Minister for Trade Yoo Myung-Hee presented three ways to work together in responding to COVID-19 and advancing APEC’s discussions on regional trade and investment.

o In order to facilitate trade in essential goods, Minister Yoo stressed that it is necessary to explore effective ways by which trade-restrictive non-tariff measures would not serve as permanent barriers.

o Regarding facilitating the essential movement of people across borders, Minister Yoo mentioned that continued cooperation among the member Economies such as voluntarily sharing information on their policies for the essential movement of people, proposed by the ROK, would contribute to increasing connectivity among people in the region.

o In realizing the APEC Post-2020 Vision, Trade Minister Yoo emphasized that while continuing efforts for trade and investment liberalization, the benefits from trade and investment should be passed on to small and medium-sized enterprises and vulnerable groups, and the WTO’s reform to restore the functions of the multilateral trading system should be prioritized.

4. In Session 2, Vice Minister Lee Taeho stressed that amid the greater difficulties faced by vulnerable groups due to COVID-19, it is important to foster “inclusive and sustainable quality growth” to overcome the crisis.

o Vice Minister Lee particularly noted that in a bid to promote inclusiveness, APEC is holding robust discussions on structural reform and women’s empowerment, and hoped to continue cooperation in expanding women’s economic participation.

o As part of the efforts to assure inclusiveness in the process of overcoming the COVID-19 crisis, Vice Minister Lee mentioned the ROK’s contribution to the international community, including efforts to develop treatments and vaccines.

o In addition, he noted that digital economy is a key element of innovation turning the COVID-19 crisis into an opportunity, and expressed the ROK’s willingness to actively take part in discussions on ways to promote digital economy, including promoting consumer protection, securing privacy while promoting utilization of data, and cooperating in the protection of personal data.

o Lastly, raising the need for transnational cooperation for transition to a green economic and social structure, Vice Minister Lee said that the ROK has announced its commitment to achieving carbon neutrality by 2050, and introduced the second P4G Summit to be held in the ROK next year with the aim of strengthening international solidarity for building back better and greener.

5. The ROK government will seek international collaboration by taking the lead in discussions at multilateral and plurilateral consultative mechanisms including APEC in order to support the normalization of business activities by Korean companies through facilitating the movement of essential goods and essential movement of people amid the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic and to enhance the global status of the ROK as APEC’s founding member and key contributor that has led cooperation agendas.