1. Mr. Chung Keeyong, Director-General for Climate Change, Energy, Environment and Scientific Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, together with Ms. Irina Fominykh, Deputy Director of the International Cooperation Department of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment of the Russian Federation, held the 14^th Meeting of the Korea-Russia Joint Committee on Environment Cooperation in Seoul on November 7. During the Meeting, the two sides extensively discussed ways to expand environment cooperation at the bilateral, regional and global levels.

2. At the Joint Committee Meeting, the two sides shared their recent domestic environmental policies and reviewed the progress in 16 ongoing bilateral cooperation projects in a range of areas, including ecosystems, the environmental industry, air pollution and marine environment, and deliberated on the proposals for new projects.

° In particular, the two sides adopted two new projects proposed by the ROK side: For the “Joint Research on Recovery of Amur Leopards” project, they agreed to conduct such programs as building researchers’ capacity in order to expedite the recovery of the endangered Amur leopard; and as for the project to “Monitoring of Marine Radioactive Substances Using a Ferry-box System,” they agreed to continue working-level consultations as necessary, including designating the Russian side’s implementation agency.

3. In order to resolve air and marine pollution issues in Northeast Asia, the two sides exchanged views on ways to pursue environment cooperation through regional and global platforms, including the North-East Asian Subregional Programme for Environmental Cooperation (NEASPEC), the Action Plan for the Protection, Management and Development of the Marine and Coastal Environment of the Northwest Pacific Region (NOWPAP), and the 25th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP25) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

° In particular, the ROK side mentioned that the ROK government is implementing various measures at home to reduce fine dust and, at the same time, making bilateral and multilateral efforts to seek a diplomatic solution to the issue. It stressed that given their high hope for the resolution of the transboundary air pollution issue; the two countries need to play an active role in order for the North-East Asia Clean Air Partnership (NEACAP), launched in October 2018, to make tangible progress.

° The Russian side, on its part, suggested that, improved air quality being one of Russia’s top-priority policy objectives, the ROK and Russia strengthen cooperation at the bilateral and regional levels.

° In addition, the two countries underscored the importance of international cooperation in responding to climate change across the world and agreed to cooperate as needed.

4. The two sides signed the agreed minutes of the 14^th Meeting of the Korea-Russia Joint Committee on Environment Cooperation that stipulate what the two countries will cooperate on, and agreed to hold the 15^th Joint Committee Meeting in Russia at an appropriate time in 2020.