1. The five member states of MIKTA -- the Republic of Korea, the United Mexican States, the Republic of Indonesia, the Republic of Turkey and the Commonwealth of Australia -- held the 1st MIKTA Foreign Affairs and Health 2+2 Senior Officials’ Meeting (SOM) at 13:00, November 26, Seoul time, presided by Deputy Minister for Multilateral and Global Affairs of the ROK Ministry of Foreign Affairs Ham Sang-wook, and discussed ways to strengthen the global health system as well as ways for collaboration among the five MIKTA countries.

° The 2+2 SOM, held at the proposal of the ROK, the MIKTA Chair for this year, was the first meeting that brought together senior officials of the foreign and health ministries of the five MIKTA countries.

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2. The MIKTA Foreign Affairs and Health SOM leaders stressed that it is an urgent matter to improve and reinforce the current global health system, which is led by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Health Regulations (IHR), in order to overcome the COVID-19 pandemic and to prepare for similar health crises, and agreed to step up cooperation in relevant discussions of the international community as well as in the overall areas of infectious diseases and health and medical care.

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° Deputy Minister Ham mentioned that cooperation among foreign and health channels of major countries is more important than ever for effective response to cross-border infectious diseases, such as COVID-19. He went on to suggest that, as today’s first meeting has paved the way for reinforcing collaboration on health security through a nexus among the foreign and health authorities of the five countries, the five countries continue consultations in the form of 2+2 meeting with foreign and health officials at each level on various occasions.

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° Director-General for International Cooperation of the Ministry of Health and Welfare Jeong Hong Geun noted that the ROK is contributing to strengthening the global health system as a member of the Executive Board of the World Health Organization in 2020-2023 and is taking part in the international community’s efforts toward the development of vaccines and their equitable distribution by participating in the COVID-19 Vaccine Global Access (COVAX) Facility and pledging contributions to the COVID-19 Vaccines Advance Market Commitment (COVAX AMC). He went on to suggest increasing cooperation in the overall areas of infectious diseases and health and medical care.

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° The Foreign Affairs and Health SOM leaders of the member states highly appreciated the fact that MIKTA has continuously sent messages of solidarity among middle power countries in bolstering multilateral cooperation amid the COVID-19 crisis this year. They agreed to step up international collaboration on health security through close communication and cooperation among foreign and health authorities of the five countries.

3. The 2+2 SOM is seen to have served as an opportunity to lay the groundwork for reinforcing collaboration on health security through a nexus among the foreign and health authorities of the major middle power countries representing various regions of the world, amid the rapidly growing demand for international health cooperation due to the prolonged global health crisis.