President Moon Jae-in and Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte held a summit at Cheong Wa Dae this afternoon.

At the one-on-one and expanded summits, the two leaders discussed how to advance bilateral relations in a wide range of areas, including political affairs, society, culture, the economy and trade. Their discussion also covered recent developments on the Korean Peninsula as well as regional and international cooperation.

The Republic of Korea and the Republic of the Philippines established diplomatic ties in 1949 and will mark the 70th anniversary next year.

Over the past seven decades, the two countries have worked closely together in the process of protecting liberal democracy and promoting economic growth. Korea is the Philippines’ fifth largest trading partner, and the number of visitors traveling back and forth between the two nations surpassed two million. 

President Moon said that Korea and the Philippines, based on robust friendship deepened through the Korean War, have made remarkable achievements over the past 70 years across all sectors, including politics, the economy, culture and people-to-people exchanges. He went on to say there would be ample room to further expand bilateral trade, investment and personnel exchanges going forward.

The two heads of state agreed to designate 2019 as the year of mutual exchanges between Korea and the Philippines to celebrate the 70th anniversary of diplomatic ties and make concerted efforts to further boost people-to-people exchanges.

President Moon expressed the hope that the Korean Government’s New Southern Policy aimed at creating a peace-loving, people-centered community where all members are better off together would contribute to the realization of the Philippine Government’s Ambisyon Natin 2040 (or National Vision 2040).

Ambisyon Natin 2040 is the policy the Philippine Government is pursuing with goals to join the ranks of upper-middle income economies by 2040 and to ensure a healthy “prosperous, predominantly middle-class society where no one is poor” and trust prevails.

Among other things, President Duterte expressed his appreciation with regard to brisk cooperation between the two countries' law enforcement authorities and promised his Government's continued interest in protecting Koreans in the Philippines. 

President Moon gave a high evaluation to the efforts of the Government of the Philippines and added that the endeavors to protect and support migrant workers from the country and multicultural families in Korea would be continuously strengthened. 

The two Presidents gave high marks to the achievements made so far through exemplary cooperation between the two countries in the sectors of infrastructure, energy and agriculture. They agreed to further enhance substantive cooperation for mutual benefits and common prosperity of the two countries. 

In particular, President Moon requested the Philippines' cooperation so that Korean businesses would be able to make continued contributions to the development of infrastructure in the nation, including power plants, LNG terminals and airports. The President added that enhanced assistance would be provided for the progress of the manufacturing industry of the Philippines by sharing, for instance, automobiles and mold-related technologies. 

The two Presidents welcomed the decision of the Korean Government to make it possible for the Philippine Government to access loans from the Economic Development Cooperation Fund (EDCF) up to US$1 billion. They reached an agreement to further promote bilateral cooperation in transportation and infrastructure, energy, water resources management and smart ICT, the four key areas of cooperation pursued to enhance the connectivity with ASEAN countries under the Korean Government's New Southern Policy.  

The two leaders also decided to work together in various areas, including science and technology, e-government and mobile telecommunications, in order to create future growth engines in preparation for the Fourth Industrial Revolution. 

President Moon expressed his gratitude to President Duterte for actively supporting the Korean Government’s effort to peacefully resolve the North Korean nuclear issue and establish permanent peace on the Korean Peninsula. 

President Duterte noted that the endeavor by President Moon and the Korean Government greatly contributed to the recent peaceful developments on the Korean Peninsula. He went on to say that his country would continue to support the effort by the Korean Government. 

The two leaders agreed to further boost bilateral strategic communication in this region or on the international stage, including ASEAN and the United Nations, and to closely cooperate not only on bilateral but also on regional and global issues, including the environment, maritime security, cybersecurity and climate change, which is a common task for humanity. 

After the summit was over, the two leaders attended the signing ceremony for MOUs on cooperation in transportation; the economy and trade; renewable energy; science and technology; and infrastructure. 

With the official visit by the Philippine President, following President Moon’s visit to Vietnam last March, the implementation of the Korean Government’s New Southern Policy is expected to be further expedited.