1. The Foreign Ministry will hold the first ROK-EU International Conference on Middle Eastern and North African Affairs at the Shilla Hotel in Seoul on March 19-20.

2. At the Conference, 1st Vice Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yong will make an opening address. Richard Howitt, member of the European Parliament, and Nabil Fahmy, former Foreign Minister of Egypt, will deliver welcoming and keynote speeches.

o Conference participants will hold in-depth discussions on major issues in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) under the themes “reform & democracy in North Africa,” “Syria, Iraq and Da’esh/ISIL,” “Iran and Gulf security,” “the Palestine question,” and “prospects for a new Middle East.”

3. The upcoming Conference, a track-1.5 meeting attended by government officials and private sector experts, will bring together some 30 domestic and foreign experts on the Middle East and government officials, including the Brookings Institution’s senior fellow Robert Einhorn, Director of the Institute for Political and International Studies (IPIS) of the Iranian Foreign Ministry Mostafa Zahrani, and former Deputy Prime Minister of Libya Mustafa Abu Shagour.

4. The Foreign Ministry has held four consultations on Middle East policy with the European External Action Service since 2012, including the fourth consultation on Middle East policy to be held on March 18. By co-hosting the forthcoming Conference, the ROK and the EU are expected to further strengthen their future-oriented partnership.

5. The International Conference takes place as a follow-up to President Park Geun-hye’s successful Middle East tour on March 1-9. The Conference will help the ROK make an in-depth analysis of the situation in the Middle East; build a network with Middle East experts from major countries; play a role befitting its global status for peace and prosperity in the Middle East; and upgrade the ROK-Middle East partnership for co-prosperity. 


                  Spokesperson and Deputy Minister for Public Relations of MOFA

*unofficial translation