1. The Republic of Korea and the EU held the 13th meeting of their Joint Committee in Seoul on June 23, with Deputy Minister for Economic Affairs Lee Tae-ho of the ROK Foreign Ministry and Managing Director for Asia Gunnar Wiegand of the European External Action Service (EEAS) leading their respective delegations.

2. At the first meeting of the ROK-EU Joint Committee in one and a half years since the one held in November 2014, the two sides, which share similar values and visions, noted with appreciation that they have steadily been convening more than 30 bilateral consultative mechanisms to consolidate their basis for cooperation on not only political and economic issues between them but also regional and global issues, including those concerning Asia, the Middle East, Afghanistan, development cooperation, disarmament and human rights.

3. The two sides reviewed the progress in the follow-up on the main projects agreed upon at the ROK-EU summit talks in September 2015 and sought ways to step up substantive cooperation in such fields as trade, investment, industries, science, technology, education and culture.

4. The two sides welcomed the forthcoming formal entry into force of the bilateral agreement on the global navigation satellite system on July 1.

5. The two sides agreed to form working groups on energy, climate change, environment and counter-terrorism under their Joint Committee and to consult with each other on ways to govern them.

6. The two sides, taking note of the progress in the implementation of the ROK-EU FTA, which marks the seventh anniversary of the entry into force on July 1, agreed to work together to increase the ROK-EU trade, investment and service in a mutually beneficial manner.

7. The two sides sought ways to increase substantive cooperation not only on the bilateral level but also on such multilateral and global issues as climate change and development as well as at multilateral and global mechanisms, including the G20, the WTO and ASEM. In particular, they agreed to thoroughly implement the Paris Agreement on climate change signed in April 2016; to seek smooth progress in the ROK-EU cooperation project on the emissions trading system; and to seek more active development cooperation on the global level, including at ROK-EU consultations on development cooperation policy and through other consultative mechanisms.

8. The two sides agreed to hold their next meeting in Brussels, Belgium, in 2017.


* unofficial translation