1. Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Lee Tae-ho, together with Undersecretary for Policy of the Department of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of the Philippines Enrique A. Manalo, held the 7th Republic of Korea-Republic of the Philippines policy consultation in Manila on November 6. In the meeting, the two sides extensively exchanged views on cooperation on economy, development, environment, culture, and consular matters, including the protection of the ROK nationals in the Philippines; the situation on the Korean Peninsula; and cooperation on regional and global stages.

2. The Vice Minister and the Undersecretary noted with appreciation that over the past 70 years since the establishment of diplomatic relations in 1949, the ROK and the Philippines have maintained steadfast friendship as traditional friends and seen their cooperative ties advance across the board, including political affairs, economy, and cultural and people-to-people exchanges; and agreed to further promote and advance friendly and cooperative ties pursuant to the ROK government’s New Southern Policy.   

3. The Vice Minister and the Undersecretary, taking note of robust bilateral trade and investment, agreed to work together to boost trade and investment in a mutually beneficial way, including through further liberalization of the ASEAN-ROK FTA.

° In particular, the two sides took note of the comprehensive agreement that had been reached at the bilateral summit talks held during President Moon Jae-in’s visit to the Philippines in November 2017 and President Duterte’s official visit to the ROK in June 2018 to advance the bilateral relations in a future-oriented way, adding that the governments of the two countries will work closely together to faithfully implement what were agreed upon.

° In addition, Vice Minister Lee appreciated Korean enterprises’ vigorous investment in projects to build energy and transportation infrastructure in the Philippines, as well as the lately broadening scope of investment to include science, information and communications technology (ICT) and other forms of technology; and asked for continued attention and support of the Philippine government in order for Korean companies to invest in the Philippines without difficulty. Undersecretary Manalo responded that strong cooperation will be rendered to foster an environment conducive to the expansion of Korean enterprises’ investment in the country.

4. The Vice Minister and the Undersecretary welcomed the designation in June 2018 by the two countries’ Presidents of the year 2019, which marks the 70^th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations, as the “Year of Mutual Exchanges between the ROK and the Philippines” and their agreement to hold various events; and agreed to work closely together toward the success of cultural and various other exchange events to come.

5. Vice Minister Lee, noting with appreciation active people-to-people exchanges, as could be seen from the fact that the number of the two countries’ visitors to each other’s countries had exceeded 2 million in 2017, asked the Philippine government to pay attention to and support the efforts to promote the safety, rights and interests of the ROK nationals in the Philippines in a bid to create conditions for a further increase in the number of Korean visitors to the country.

° Undersecretary Manalo, mentioning that since the Philippine President’s visit to the ROK, keen attention has been paid to the safety of the ROK nationals, pledged to double efforts to better protect the ROK nationals in the country; and asked the ROK government to render support and pay attention to the Filipinos in the ROK, including the workers and those married to ROK nationals.

6. The Vice Minister and the Undersecretary agreed to step up cooperation between the governments of the two countries in seeking advances in the relations between the ROK and ASEAN, which will mark the 30^th anniversary of dialogue relations in 2019. In particular, they agreed to work closely together on the New Southern Policy, which the ROK government is actively implementing to enhance its ties with ASEAN.

° Vice Minister Lee mentioned that the ROK government was actively seeking to host the 2019 ASEAN-ROK Commemorative Summit in the ROK as part of the efforts to implement its New Southern Policy; extended appreciation to the Philippine government for its strong support for the ROK’s work to host the event; and asked it to continue doing so.

7. Vice Minister Lee explained in detail the current situation on the Korean Peninsula as well as the ROK government’s efforts to achieve denuclearization and establish permanent peace on the Peninsula, asking the Philippine government to remain unwaveringly supportive of the efforts to establish peace on the Korean Peninsula.

° Undersecretary Manalo, highly commending the ROK government’s efforts to build peace on the Korean Peninsula, pledged to maintain close coordination with the ROK government at bilateral and multilateral levels.

8. The 7th ROK-Philippines policy consultation is seen to have served as a good opportunity to review the results of the two rounds of bilateral summit talks held over the past year and to explore ways to further enhance the bilateral ties across the board ahead of the 70^th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations in 2019.

* unofficial translation