1. Minister of Foreign Affairs Kang, Kyung-wha had a telephone conversation with Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Colombia Claudia Blum Capurro de Barberi on the morning of September 16, Korea Standard Time, and discussed the selection of the next Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO) as well as ways for collaborative response to the COVID-19 pandemic and high-level exchanges for substantive cooperation in the post-COVID-19 world, among others.

2. Minister Kang stressed that Minister for Trade Yoo Myung-hee, who is running to be selected as the next WTO Director-General, is a well-qualified candidate who can restore the multilateral trade system and play a bridging role between developing and developed countries, and asked for the Colombian government’s support.

° Minister Blum, speaking highly of the commitment of the Republic of Korea toward the multilateral trade system as well as Minister Yoo’s experiences and expertise, mentioned that Colombia will cooperate closely with the ROK in the selection.

3. Minister Kang took note that, with this year marking the 70th anniversary of the outbreak of the Korean War, cooperation with Colombia -- the only Latin American country that had sent troops to fight alongside the ROK in the Korean War and the ROK’s key partner in Latin America -- has strengthened in humanitarian assistance, development cooperation and experience sharing for overcoming the COVID-19 crisis. The Minister also suggested close collaboration on the development and distribution of vaccines in preparation for a prolonged COVID-19 situation.

° Minister Blum noted that the ROK’s response to COVID-19 is viewed as an exemplary case in the international community and that extensive cooperation with the ROK is of great help to Colombia in overcoming its COVID-19 crisis, and extended special appreciation to the ROK for its support.

4. The two Ministers noted with appreciation that the ROK and Colombia have been cooperating actively at high levels, including the summit level, even amid the COVID-19 situation, and agreed to continue working together to step up bilateral substantive cooperation, including at the Korea-LAC Future Cooperation Forum to take place in Seoul this November.

5. The telephone conversation between the two Foreign Ministers was held at the request of the Colombian side, during which the two countries confirmed their commitment to cooperation on the international stage, including in the WTO selection, as well as bilateral cooperation in the post-COVID-19 era.

6. The ROK and Colombia, whose bilateral FTA is in the 5th year of implementation, have been making efforts to expand trade on the basis of their mutually complementary economic structures. In particular, the two countries will increase substantive cooperation in various areas, including information and communications technology (ICT), bio fields, and infrastructure construction, by linking the ROK’s Digital New Deal and Green New Deal policies announced to overcome COVID-19 and Colombia’s Digital Transformation and Green Growth Policies.