1. The 15^th Korea-Middle East Cooperation Forum took place under the theme of “Korea-Middle East Partnership in the Era of the 4th Industrial Revolution” in Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), on October 31. The event was co-hosted by the Jeju Peace Institute, the Korea-Arab Society (KAS), and the Abu Dhabi-based Emirates Center for Strategic Studies and Research (ECSSR) with the support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Korea.

° The Korea-Middle East Cooperation Forum, a signature track-1.5 forum designed to promote mutual understanding, step up substantive cooperation and build human networks between the two sides, has taken place in the ROK and the Middle East on an annual and rotational basis since 2003.

※ Its 15^th round brought together some 200 people, including incumbent government officials, members of academic and media circles, and relevant experts from the ROK and the Middle East.

° Also among the participants in the Forum, held in conjunction with a meeting of heads of the ROK’s diplomatic missions in the Middle East, were about 20 mission heads of the ROK.

° At the Forum, experts from the ROK and the Middle East delivered presentations and engaged in in-depth discussions on national development strategies of Middle Eastern countries and the ROK’s role; ROK-Middle East economic cooperation in the era of the fourth industrial revolution; and communication and tolerance between the Korean and Arab cultures.

2. In his keynote speech at the Forum’s opening ceremony, Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Lee Tae-ho stressed that it was time for the ROK and the Middle East to seek a paradigm of cooperation that befitted the fourth industrial revolution and other changes in the new era; and suggested that the two regions develop an action-oriented model for cooperation.

° The Vice Minister reaffirmed that as demonstrated by President Moon Jae-in’s visit to the UAE in his first year in office, the ROK government has a firm commitment to strengthening cooperation with the Middle East.

° The Vice Minister suggested further increasing concrete cooperation projects in areas related to the fourth industrial revolution, such as by using the Korea-UAE joint R&D center as well as joint research by Khalifa University and Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST).

 ° The Vice Minister mentioned that the ROK and the Middle East should boost people-to-people exchanges and enhance mutual understanding in a bid to step up bilateral cooperation in a future-oriented way, and should expand KAS’ role to that end.

3. At the 15^th Korea-Middle East Cooperation Forum, the participants engaged in constructive discussions on ways for the ROK and the Middle East to diversify areas of cooperation beyond construction and energy of the past to include future-oriented sectors, such as information and communications technology (ICT), bio, artificial intelligence (AI) and aerospace; and put forward various ways to work together in those areas. As such, the Forum is seen to have helped explore a direction for future cooperation between the ROK and the Middle East.

* unofficial translation