
By Kim Young Shin
President Moon Jae-in, on his visit to New York to attend the United Nations General Assembly, held bilateral summits with his Egyptian and Chilean counterparts on Sept. 26 to discuss ways to boost cooperation with Korea.
President Moon first held a meeting with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and talked about further developing the comprehensive cooperative partnership between the two countries.
The two leaders agreed to continue to hold high-level meetings and regular policy consultation meetings to maintain the joint projects in many different fields and to expand their range of cooperation to include the military and defense areas.
President Moon asked his counterpart for his continued interest in projects involving Korean companies in Egypt, including a contract for Cairo metro train cars. Moon asked for special support from President el-Sisi for the introduction of the Korean K-9 howitzer and naval convoy ships to Egyptian defense forces, too.
President el-Sisi expressed his strong will to accelerate the reformation of Egyptian society by adopting Korea’s experience in economic development and education.

President Moon also held a summit with Chilean president Sebastian Pinera to discuss means to strengthening ties.
The two presidents agreed that the Korea-Chile Free Trade Agreement (FTA), which has continued for 15 years now, has been a great success and agreed to revise the agreement at an early date to further improve bilateral economic cooperation. The leaders also consented that Korea becoming an associate member of the Pacific Alliance would contribute to fortifying economic cooperation between Korea and Central and South America, and that they should work together on membership.
The two sides also saw potential in the Forum for East Asia-Latin America Cooperation (FEALAC) that connects the two continents, and agreed to promote such cooperation at the forum.
President Moon, answering a request from his Chilean counterpart, expressed his strong will to tighten ties in terms of online government services, future business related to the fourth industrial revolution, cybersecurity and climate change.
They also developed a bond of sympathy concerning denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula.
“I trust President Moon for his endeavors toward denuclearization,” said President Pinera.
“I ask for Chile’s support for the Korean government’s efforts on that matter,” said President Moon.
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