213th Ministerial Meeting on International Economic Affairs
Government to Work on New International Cooperation
amid COVID 19 Pandemic
Deputy Prime Minister Hong Nam-ki presided over the 213th Ministerial Meeting on International Economic Affairs held on April 27, and discussed the four focuses with which the government will work on international economic policies amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
The following is a summary of Deputy Prime Minister Hong’s keynote address:
Four focuses with which the government will work on its international cooperation amid the pandemic
1) Support exporters: Expand export financing and work on difficulties exporters are faced with, such as border shutdowns, and announce in May measures to promote overseas infrastructure construction
2) New international cooperation amid the pandemic: Share the country’s COVID-19 prevention and treatment programs to expand cooperation with foreign countries, and help developing countries with loan repayment suspension and new ODA programs
3) Improve bilateral cooperation: Work to improve bilateral cooperation with Japan for Korean companies not to pay the costs of material export curbs, and continue with the administration’s New South and New North policies, such as holding bilateral talks with China and Vietnam as scheduled, and seeking economic cooperation with Russia
4) Prepare for post-COVID-19: Work on diversifying markets, expanding trade and broadening overseas investment, as well as prepare for changes in the global value chain, such as by securing manufacturing supplies
Topics of discussion
1) International cooperation amid the pandemic
- Provide developing countries with Korea’s Economic Development Cooperation Fund (EDCF) worth over US $0.4 billion to support their COVID-19 healthcare programs
- Suspend US $110 million worth of repayment on low-income country loans, extended to 26 countries
- Triple the size of the Export-import Bank of Korea’s foreign subsidiary capital from US $145 million to US $400 million
2) ODA for New South and New North policies
- Increase the size of ODA for New South and New North policies by more than two folds for the next three years to around US $7 billion
- ODA for New South: ICT aid taking into consideration recipient countries demand, landmark projects and model projects to help develop mid- to long-term partnership
- ODA for New North: aid as priming of economic cooperation, and aid to help address issues recipient countries are most concerned about, such as healthcare and climate change
- Work on EDCF guarantee programs, gradually transform aid programs into loan programs, and expand aid in healthcare
3) Developments in economic cooperation with Russia and Uzbekistan
- Korea-Uzbekistan: Work on economic cooperation in the over 50 projects Uzbekistan has been interested in, as well as on cooperation in the healthcare sector, and teleconference between the two prime ministers to be held on May 6
- Korea-Russia: Work on the selection of joint projects, 30 projects selected by each country, and work on the launch of a joint investment fund this year
4) Global regulations on digital trade
- Participate in WTO’s e-commerce negotiations
- Work on bilateral digital trade agreement, starting with the Korea-Singapore digital trade agreement
Please refer to the attached pdf
