1. On October 26, Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Choi Jong Kun had separate bilateral meetings with Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Guatemala Eduardo Hernández and Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of El Salvador Adriana Mira, who are on a visit to the Republic of Korea to attend the Korea-Central America Special Roundtable. During the meetings, they discussed various issues such as △bilateral relations, △substantive cooperation, and △cooperation with Central America.

* Korea-Central America Special Roundtable (10.28, Seoul): It is the first high-level Korea-Central America-U.S. trilateral dialogue platform, hosted by the First Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Korea, in which the three sides will discuss diplomatic accomplishments and measures for future cooperation between Korea and Central America.

° Vice Minister Choi hoped that as next year marks the 60^th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties, the bilateral relations between Korea and Guatemala, and Korea and El Salvador will be strengthened based on the strong momentum for cooperation between Korea and Central America created through the ROK-U.S. Summit (2021.05) and the Korea-SICA summit (2021.06).

2. During the meeting with the Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs of Guatemala, Vice Minister Choi recognized the advancement of substantive cooperation between the two nations through active exchanges between high-level officials, negotiations for the Korea-Central America FTA, and negotiations for establishing a Korea Program on International Agriculture (KOPIA) office in Guatemala.

° Vice Minister Hernández expressed his gratitude to Korea for its expansion of commitment to development cooperation with the three northern Central American countries including Guatemala, which was announced in the Korea-U.S. Summit. He also hoped that Korean companies would increase investments in his country and that Korea would further share its knowledge and experiences in areas such as agriculture, climate change, healthcare, and digitalization.

3. During the meeting with the Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs of El Salvador, Vice Minister Choi recognized the progress in cooperation between the two nations through the Korea-Central America FTA and development cooperation, and requested El Salvador’s collaboration in expanding cooperation between Korea and SICA, given that the SICA secretariat resides in El Salvador.

° Vice Minister Mira expressed her gratitude for Korea’s efforts to advance Korea-Central America and Korea-El Salvador cooperation, such as the Korea-SICA summit and the Korea-Central America Special Roundtable. She also hoped for expansion of trade and investment between the two nations as well as further cooperation in areas such as El Salvador’s Infrastructure Strategy Project.