1. Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Cho Hyundong attended the opening session of the “International Forum for Trilateral Cooperation 2022” hosted by the Trilateral Cooperation Secretariat (TCS) in a hybrid online and offline format on the morning of June 14. In his opening remarks, Vice Minister Cho highlighted the reinforcement of trilateral cooperation, as the three countries are facing changes of the times and transnational challenges.

※ The Trilateral Cooperation Secretariat is an international organization inaugurated in Seoul in 2011, at the proposal of Korea. The TCS provides support for the trilateral consultative mechanisms and implements its cooperation projects.

° Vice Minister Cho pointed out that trilateral cooperation, which began in 1999 in the process of responding to the Asian financial crisis, has advanced tremendously for now it has more than 70 intergovernmental consultative mechanisms including around 20 ministerial-level meetings.

° The Vice Minister elaborated that the three countries need to gather wisdom to seek new opportunities and momentum for economic cooperation to prepare for changes in the international trade order and the post-COVID-19 era, and to lead the new trends such as green transformation.

° The Vice Minister also expressed the will of the Korean government, as chair of the 9^th Trilateral Summit, to cooperate with the Japanese and Chinese governments to successfully host the summit meeting.

2. The IFTC is an annual forum to discuss ways to promote trilateral cooperation. This year, the IFTC was held under the theme of “Future-Oriented Trilateral Cooperation: Lasting Peace, Common Prosperity, Shared Culture.”

° The Forum brought together former Prime Minister Kim Hwang-sik, former Vice Chairman of the National People's Congress Standing Committee of China Zhang Ping, Governor of Oita Prefecture of Japan Hirose Katsusada, Secretary-General of the TCS Ou Boqian, Ambassador of China to Korea Xing Haiming and Ambassador of Japan to Korea Aiboshi Koichi, among others.

° The participants of the opening session commended the TCS over its achievements, and reached a common understanding that closer trilateral cooperation is required in a wide range of areas, including economic affairs, disaster management, health, and people-to-people exchanges, in the face of common challenges in the region.

° The Forum consisted of three sessions, during which figures from the governments as well as academic and business circles of Korea, China and Japan discussed “Institutionalization of Cooperation as a Key to Human Security and Peace,” “A New Chapter: Driving Inclusive Growth for Regional Common Prosperity” and “From the Past to the Future: Embracing Shared Culture towards the Sense of Community.”

3. The Korean government, which played a leading role in establishing the TCS, will continue to actively support the TCS's bridging roles to facilitate practical cooperation among the three countries.