1. Deputy Minister for Economic Affairs Lee Seong-ho attended the 1^st Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Senior Officials’Meeting (SOM) held in a virtual format from March 10 (Wed) to 12 (Fri). Deputy Minister Lee and other partners from the member economies discussed the COVID-19 response, economic recovery measures, and ways to enhance cooperation in serving this year’s APEC activities, including establishing an implementation plan for the Putrajaya Vision 2040.

2. At this meeting, the member economies agreed on the need to recover their economy from COVID-19 and create an open and predictable trade environment, and discussed ways to achieve free trade and investment, accelerate the digital economy, and ensure inclusive and sustainable growth.

o They also reaffirmed the willingness to minimize trade restrictions in order to stabilize supply chains within the region and move toward greater integration by increasing trade and investment flows based on the Free Trade Agreement Asia Pacific (FTAAP).

o The member economies shared the need to facilitate the digital economy, increase the flow of information and data, and achieve more inclusive growth that can have a positive impact on employment and economic activities in the post-COVID-19 era.

3. They also agreed that the implementation plan for the Putrajaya Vision 2040 will continue to cover trade and investment, digitalization, and inclusive growth in a balanced manner, and decided to take into account the opinions from the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC) in drafting the plan and reflect diverse regional issues raised in the post-COVID-19 era into the plan.

4. Deputy Minister for Economic Affairs Lee Seong-ho proposed concrete cooperative measures to strengthen supply chains and competitiveness in the service sectors in the Asia-Pacific region and facilitate the digital economy, and mentioned that Korea would continue to conduct projects to contribute to economic growth within the region.

o He stressed the importance of ensuring the movement of essential goods and workers to protect supply chains during the pandemic, and further asked for support for the Korea-led Capacity Building Needs Initiative (CBNI) to contribute to realizing the FTAAP.

o Deputy Minister Lee noted that Korea has strived to enhance competitiveness of the service sectors in the Asia-Pacific region, and stressed the need to have more in-depth discussion on ways to help recover the hard-hit service industries such as air transportation and logistics during the pandemic.

o He also explained Korea’s Green New Deal policies aimed at achieving the national transition to low-carbon and eco-friendly economy, and underscored the need for cooperation in tackling green-house gas emissions and transboundary environmental challenges.

o At the meeting, Korea reaffirmed its status as a leading country in digitalization by introducing various projects led by Korea, including those for protecting online consumers and for protecting and using personal data as well as a forum on the personal data breach notification system.

5. This SOM, held amid the prolonged global health and economic crisis, served as an opportunity to reaffirm the willingness among APEC members to enhance cooperation in promoting the economic recovery and development of the Asia-Pacific region, and provided renewed momentum for cooperation, allowing them to exchange constructive opinions on the future direction of APEC.