President Moon Jae-in and Chilean President Sebastian Piñera held a summit at 10:30 this morning on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York. They had extensive consultations over the promotion of trade and economic cooperation as well as collaboration in the international arena and on regional integration. They also discussed recent developments surrounding the Korean Peninsula and Latin America.
The Korea-Chile summit was the first talks between President Moon and the head of state of a key friendly country in Latin America since his inauguration. At today’s summit, the two Presidents agreed to further advance the existing comprehensive cooperative partnership between the two countries and step up bilateral cooperation in diverse fields.
They also reached an agreement to continue to strengthen economic and trade ties between the two nations through negotiations to improve the Korea-Chile free trade agreement, Korea’s accession to the Pacific Alliance as an associate member and cooperation in areas of mutual interest.
The two heads of state noted what the Korea-Chile FTA has achieved over the past 15 years. They agreed to push for negotiations to improve the existing FTA as soon as possible with a view to taking bilateral economic cooperation to new heights.
In addition, the two Presidents concurred that if South Korea joined the Pacific Alliance as an associate member, it would build momentum promoting economic cooperation between Korea and Latin America, and to this end, they agreed to work together.
President Piñera specified four major areas in which he hopes to enhance bilateral cooperation: Chile’s national modernization project, including the establishment of e-government; the future economy related to the Fourth Industrial Revolution; cyber security; and climate change responses. President Moon expressed his intention to cooperate with Chile in the areas mentioned above.
President Moon explained the recent situation surrounding the Korean Peninsula, including the outcome of the inter-Korean summit held last week, and asked the Chilean Government to continuously support the South Korean Government's endeavors to achieve complete denuclearization and a peace settlement on the Peninsula.
President Piñera gave high marks to the South Korean Government’s leading role in recent efforts to bring positive changes to the Korean Peninsula and expressed his unwavering support for its policy toward the North.
President Moon wished for the success of the APEC Economic Leaders’ Summit to be held in Chile next year. President Piñera expressed the hope that the Korean Government would be able to contribute to the summit’s success.
The two leaders also shared an understanding for the importance and potential of the Forum for East Asia-Latin America Cooperation (FEALAC), which helps bridge East Asia and Latin America, and agreed to work together on its continuous development.