President Moon Jae-in on Tuesday held a meeting with ministers and ambassadors of Costa Rica, Guatemala, Colombia and Brazil to discuss digital partnership with Latin American countries.

This is the president’s first face-to-face diplomatic meeting over the past year amid canceled or delayed state visits in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Korea is an optimal and reliable partner for your envisioned transition towards an ecofriendly digital economy. Korea has a strong will to support the initiative,” Moon said in his opening remarks of the meeting held at Cheong Wa Dae.

The meeting comes ahead of the Korea-LAC Digital Cooperation Forum that will be held in Seoul on March 17-18 under the theme of “Partnership towards Digital Innovation and Inclusiveness.”

Four ministers, including Costa Rica’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and Worship Rodolfo Solano Quiros, Guatemala’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Pedro Brolo Vila, and Colombia’s Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Rodolfo Zea Navarro, are currently visiting Seoul to attend the annual event, with nine senior officials from seven countries Ecuador, Mexico, Peru, El Salvador, Chile, Colombia and Argentina joining online.

For the meeting with Moon, Brazilian Ambassador to Korea Luis Henrique Sobreira Lopes attended on behalf of the Brazilian minister.

“With the Korea-Central America FTA taking effect on March 1, we are one step closer to building a more extensive free trade network,” Moon said, adding Korea is expanding bilateral and multilateral trading partnerships with Central and South American countries.

“I hope this week's forum could pave the way for further strengthening win-win cooperation on new areas like environment and digital innovation.” 

The two-day form will touch on a variety of issues ranging from 5G network to cyber security to smart farming for possible partnerships among countries.
 
The Korean government also plans to share details of the so-called Korean version of the New Deal stimulus program that was unveiled last year. The two key pillars include Digital New Deal and Green New Deal.

By Lee Ji-yoon (jylee@heraldcorp.com)