1. A Mekong-Republic of Korea Senior Officials’ Meeting (SOM) took place in Bangkok, the Kingdom of Thailand, on June 13 and 14 to discuss ways for the ROK and the five Mekong countries to work together. Mr. Koo Hong-seok, Director-General of the ASEAN and Southeast Asian Affairs Bureau of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, attended the meeting as head delegate of the ROK government.

2. The ROK side mentioned that the Mekong countries and the ROK agreed to elevate the Mekong-ROK Cooperation from the ministerial level to the summit level in 2019 and that the inaugural Mekong-ROK Summit will be held in Busan, on November 27. The delegation explained ways for mutual cooperation that are currently under review and asked the Mekong side to cooperate for the Summit to produce tangible results.

3. The delegates from the five Mekong countries, wholeheartedly welcoming the forthcoming Mekong-ROK Summit, agreed to work closely with the ROK government for the Summit to bring substantial results. In addition, they highly appreciated the ROK government’s decision to scale up the Mekong-ROK Cooperation Fund from 2 million USD in 2019 to 3 million USD by next year.

4. The delegates from the two sides reviewed the progress in the implementation of major cooperation projects conducted under the 2nd Mekong-ROK Plan of Action (2017-2020), which had been adopted at the 7th Mekong-ROK Foreign Ministers’ Meeting held in Busan in 2017. In particular, they noted with appreciation that desired results are being attained in the 6 priority areas namely Infrastructure, Information and Communications Technology (ICT), Water resources management, Rural development and Human resource management.

5. The delegates from the six countries noted that the 6th Mekong-ROK Business Forum held in Seoul in December 2018 was very useful in discussing ways to innovate small- and medium-sized enterprises of the two sides and to seek co-prosperity of those enterprises, and agreed to hold the 7th Forum in Bangkok, Thailand, in September 2019.

6. The Mekong countries have been recording a fast economic growth rate of up to 5-7% in recent years. The inaugural Mekong-ROK Summit, to be held in 2019, will contribute to the co-prosperity and co-development of the two sides, and be significant in implementing the Korean government’s New Southern Policy.

* unofficial translation