Joint Statement
The 3rd Korea-Pacific Islands Foreign Ministers Meeting

5 December 2017


1. On 5 December 2017, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Korea (ROK) welcomed the representatives from thirteen Pacific Island Countries (PICs) namely the Cook Islands, the Republic of Fiji, the Republic of Kiribati, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, the Republic of Nauru, Niue, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu, as well as the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) Secretariat in Seoul to the 3rd Korea-Pacific Islands Foreign Ministers’ Meeting.

2. Under the theme of “Sustainable Development for a Blue & Green Pacific,” the Ministers discussed ways to strengthen the cooperation between the ROK and PICs in the areas of development, climate change, maritime affairs, fisheries, and other matters of mutual interest.

3. The Ministers, in recalling the outcomes of previous ROK-PICs Ministerial meetings, reiterated their willingness to promote, widen and deepen tangible cooperation in the areas of common interest. Recognizing that the recent dialogues served as an opportunity to increase practical cooperation between the ROK and PICs, the Ministers decided to seek ways to sustain the momentum for closer cooperation. Ministers reiterated their willingness to promote regional peace and stability, as well as their commitment to working together on a wide range of new and evolving global challenges.

4. The Ministers shared the view that as premier consultative bodies between the ROK and PICs it is necessary to continue holding the Korea-Pacific Islands Foreign Ministers’ Meeting triennially, and the Korea-Pacific Islands Senior Officials Meeting inter-sessionally. Ministers reaffirmed the ROK’s commitment to regional engagement in the Pacific through its active participation as a partner in the PIF’s Forum Dialogue process.

5. The Ministers welcomed the success of the 48th PIF Leaders’ Meeting and the 29th Forum Leaders Dialogue Sessions with Forum Dialogue Partners, both of which took place in Apia, Samoa in September 2017.

6. The PIC Ministers welcomed that the ROK attached great importance to enhancing cooperation with PICs and is making efforts to strengthen cooperation in various sectors such as trade, investment in fisheries, tourism, climate change, environment, maritime affairs and security. The Ministers also recognized the positive role of people-to-people exchange in the bilateral relations. Furthermore, they noted with appreciation that the ROK, as a responsible member of the international community, has actively joined in global efforts to address major new and evolving regional and global challenges in these areas.

7. The ROK Minister expressed her appreciation for PICs’ continued support to the ROK’s initiatives and efforts within the international fora.

Development Cooperation

8. The Ministers emphasized the importance of PICs’ leadership and ownership in further deepening development cooperation between the ROK and the PICs. The Ministers welcomed the ROK commitment to support PICs in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, noting the importance of the Pacific Regional SDG’s Roadmap for the Pacific. In this regard, the Ministers welcomed the ROK Minister’s willingness to increase and expand their ODA.

9. The PIC Ministers commended the ROK for its on-going commitment to the ROK-PIF Cooperation Fund (RPCF) to provide technical and capacity building support to the Pacific region delivered through the CROP agencies; placed emphasis on the effective implementation of the Fund. The Ministers welcomed the implementation of “2014-2017 Pacific Islands Climate Prediction Services Project”, and looks forward to the effective implementation of “2015-2019 Realtime Remote Sensing Surveillance System for the Control of Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) Fishing and Marine Pollution Activities”.

10. The PIC Ministers noted with appreciation the ROK government’s effort to increase its annual grants to the RPCF up to 1.5 million dollars by 2020. The Ministers reaffirmed their support and commitment to expanding the partnership under the RPCF.

11. The PIC Ministers acknowledged the establishment of the Fiji Office of the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) in 2016, and noting its presence will further strengthen development cooperation between the ROK and PICs. The Ministers welcomed the ROK’s effort to expand the Special Fellowship Program to other areas of mutual interests.

12. The PIC Ministers expressed their appreciation to the ROK for its active leadership role in promoting development effectiveness under the Busan Global Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation (GPEDC). The ROK Minister appreciated the significant role of the PICs in the GPEDC monitoring work.

13. The PIC Ministers noted the importance of labour mobility as a source of job opportunities and skills development and expressed an interest in learning more about ROK’s labour mobility schemes.

14. The Ministers also recognized the role of the ROK-Pacific Small Island Developing States (PSIDS) Development Cooperation Consultation in exploring development cooperation programmes that could meet the demand of PICs, in seeking more effective ways for bilateral and multilateral development cooperation and in promoting information sharing and mutual understanding.

15. The Ministers reaffirmed their commitment to ensuring the effective implementation and review of the Small Island Developing States (SIDS) Accelerated Modalities of Action (SAMOA) Pathway.

Climate Change

16. The Ministers reaffirmed that climate change poses a continuing and urgent threat to the sustainable development of PICs. The PIC Ministers welcomed ROK’s continued commitment to the implementation of the Paris Agreement reaffirming the shared goal of holding the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and pursuing efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels through meaningful greenhouse gas emissions reductions and supporting adaptation to the adverse effects of climate change. The Ministers also welcomed the entry to force of the Kigali amendment to the Montreal Protocol to phase out Hydroflurocarbons (HFC’s) and urged other countries that have not ratified the amendment to do so as soon as possible.
17. The Ministers further stressed that up scaled and timely climate financing is key to ensuring PICs adaptation to the adverse effects of climate change and disaster risk and noted with appreciation the ROK, hosting of the Green Climate Fund (GCF) Secretariat and stated contribution to a maximum of 100 million US dollars to the GCF. The Ministers emphasized that securing additional funding for the GCF, and making sure that the funds are distributed using Simplified Approval Processes (SAP) for SIDS, is a matter of urgency in addressing climate change including giving serious consideration to strengthening PICs direct access to the international climate finance. The Ministers also agreed that improved access for the private sector in the Pacific would support both adaptation and mitigation efforts. In this context, the Ministers appreciated that the ROK government has been contributing to developing GCF programs for PICs and helping them with capacity building through various activities such as the capacity-building workshop and the seminar on climate change projects and programs.
18. The Ministers acknowledged that the current scale of financing for adaptation will not be adequate to meet the needs of PICs and encouraged international support in securing additional funding for the GCF and the Adaptation Fund to serve the Paris Agreement.
19. The Ministers further highlighted the Framework for Resilient Development (FRDP) and the Pacific Resilience Partnership (PRP) as potential means of implementation for collaboration with the ROK around Climate Change and Disaster Risk resilient development in the Pacific. The Ministers recognized that successful implementation of the FRDP will require fostering strong partnership and cooperation between PICs and key stakeholders such as communities, civil society, private sector and development partners and welcomes the ROK’s support for the effective implementation of the FRDP
20. The Ministers expressed their continued support for Fiji’s Presidency of the 23rd Session of the Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP23), including support for the 2018 Talanoa Dialogue, and welcomed ROK continued support to ensure global action for effective implementation of the Paris Agreement.
21. The PIC Ministers welcomed the ROK’s continued support for the introduction of renewable energy and encouraged greater cooperation between the ROK and PICs in the energy sector, thereby contributing to the region’s energy transition and stable supply of power.
22. The Ministers noted the ROK’s adoption of the Assistance Strategy for Fragile States to achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development with its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and agreed to work together to devise ways to expand development cooperation projects that aim at enhancing PICs’ ability to respond to climate change.
23. The Ministers noted the 4th Blue-Green Economy Symposium co-hosted by the Embassy of the ROK in Fiji and the Micronesian Center for Sustainable Transport (MCST) from 1 to 2 December 2017 in Majuro, the Marshall Islands provided a good opportunity to discuss ways to achieve low-carbon transport transition for PICs. The Ministers shared the view that the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) is an important international body that can contribute to achieving sustainable development for developing countries and appreciated that the GGGI is providing support for PICs’ climate change response and transition toward the low-carbon green economy. The ROK Minister welcomed PICs’ participation in and support for the GGGI, noting that Papua New Guinea and Kiribati are its founding members and Fiji and Vanuatu have recently become members.

Maritime and Fisheries Cooperation

24. The Ministers recognized that the increasing demands for fisheries resources across the region requires coherent and coordinated approaches to address multidimensional issues including IUU fishing, and monitoring, control and surveillance. In this regard, the PIC Ministers appreciated the efforts of the ROK Government to increase and expand ODA for sustainable management of fisheries, support for fisheries training and development of harbor facilities in the region. The PIC Ministers welcomed the project of the World Fisheries University (WFU) initiated by the ROK Government.
25. The Ministers took note of the continuous progress made in increasing cooperation between the ROK and PICs in the areas of marine environment management, marine scientific research, sustainable fisheries, marine transportation, deep-sea mineral resource exploration, renewable energy, and tourism. They also agreed that the ROK and PICs should continue exploring joint projects on renewable energy, including ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC), and other promising areas.

Regional Situation


26. The Ministers strongly condemned the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK)’ sixth nuclear test with an explosive yield much greater than previous tests and its multiple launches of ballistic missiles. The Ministers also condemned repeated efforts by the DPRK to test nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles, which constitutes a threat to the wider Pacific Islands region. Ministers also agreed on the importance of ensuring the full compliance of relevant UN Security Council Resolutions. The Ministers reaffirmed the importance of achieving denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula in a peaceful manner. In this regard, the Ministers recalled that in the 48th Pacific Islands Forum, the Forum Leaders pledged to deregister any DPRK trading or fishing vessels that are currently flagged on Pacific states’ shipping registers.


27. The Ministers supported the efforts to improve inter-Korean relations towards establishing permanent peace on the Korean Peninsula. The Ministers expressed their sincere hope that the 2018 Pyeong Chang Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games would be a festival of peace and that, especially with North Korea’s participation; it can spark the momentum necessary to bring about peace on the Korean Peninsula.

Next Meeting


28. The PIC Ministers thanked the ROK Government for hosting the 3rd Korea-Pacific Islands Foreign Ministers’ Meeting and for its warm hospitality, and expressed their willingness to closely cooperate with the ROK Government for the preparation and success of the 4th Korea-Pacific Islands Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in 2020. In the true spirit of partnership, Ministers encouraged the Senior Officials Meeting to explore ways for shared hosting of the triennial Ministers meeting between ROK and the Pacific members.