1. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs held the “15th Forum for East Asia-Latin America Cooperation (FEALAC) Cyber Secretariat Workshop” in Seoul on Wednesday, June 11 under the theme “FEALAC's Vision for Reinvigorating Cooperation between East Asia and Latin America.” The event was attended by more than 80 participants, including delegates from 31 FEALAC member countries and international organizations as well as experts from private sectors. During the Workshop held ahead of the 10th Foreign Ministers’ Meeting scheduled to take place in August in Mongolia, the participants explored various ways to enhance cooperation between the two regions.

2. The Republic of Korea has been actively contributing to FEALAC, the only inter-governmental consultative body connecting East Asia and Latin America. Since becoming the host of the Cyber Secretariat in 2011, Korea has hosted the Workshop annually. In his opening remarks, Kweon Ki-hwan, Deputy Minister for Multilateral and Global Affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, highly appreciated FEALAC’s role in promoting mutual understanding and dialogue between the two regions through nine Foreign Ministers’ Meetings and various cooperative projects across political, economic, social, and youth exchange sectors. He also emphasized that Korea, which has led the development of FEALAC such as by hosting the Cyber Secretariat and spearheading the establishment of the FEALAC Cooperation Fund, will continue its contribution to FEALAC.

3. This Workshop featured two sessions under the themes of “Strategies to Strengthen Interregional Collaboration in a Rapidly Evolving Era” and “Advancing Mutual Prosperity through Collaboration in  the Framework of FEALAC,” respectively. Participants shared their respective countries’ foreign policy strategies toward Latin America and East Asia and proposed ways to further strengthen interregional cooperation.

4. On the morning of the following day, Thursday, June 12, an Interim Coordination Meeting is scheduled to take place for focused discussions on preparations for the 10th Foreign Ministers’ Meeting. The Republic of Korea will participate in this Meeting as a co-chair of the Trade, Investment, Tourism, and MSMEs (TITM) Working Group. On the afternoon of the same day, an Ad-hoc Steering Committee Meeting of the FEALAC Multi-donor Trust Fund will be held. As the largest contributor to the Fund and co-chair of the Committee, Korea will preside over the Meeting together with Peru. The Meeting will cover the current status of the Fund, revisions to relevant regulations, and proposals for new FEALAC-wide projects aimed at revitalizing the Fund.