1. The third Korea-Pacific Islands Senior Officials’ Meeting (SOM3) was held in Seoul on October 6. Director-General for South Asian and Pacific Affairs Kang Young-hoon of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Korea presided over the meeting, which was attended by senior officials from the 14 Pacific island countries and the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) Secretariat.

◦ The ROK delegation to the meeting was composed of officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries and the Korea Institute of Ocean Science and Technology. Also among the participants were delegates from the APEC Climate Center and the Regional Centre for Asia and the Pacific of the UN Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL), who were invited as special guests.

2. The meeting came amid the strengthening friendship and substantive cooperation between the ROK and the Pacific island countries (PICs) on the back of ROK Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se’s visit to Fiji in September, which marked the first of its kind by an ROK Foreign Minister in 44 years since the establishment of the ROK-Fiji diplomatic relations. In the meeting, the ROK and the PICs reviewed the progress in cooperation on climate change, development, maritime affairs and fisheries. They also engaged in an extensive exchange of views on ways to promote cooperation in the future. (They adopted the attached Chair’s Statement as the outcome document.)

◦ In particular, in the meeting, which came in the wake of the adoption of “the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development” in late September and ahead of the 21st session of the Conference of the Parties (COP21) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in the second half of 2015, the ROK and the PICs discussed in depth ways to address what has emerged as the biggest international issues -- development and climate change.

* For further details about the third Korea-PICs Senior Officials’ Meeting, refer to the attached Chair’s Statement.

3. On a side note, later in the day, the PICs senior officials paid in group a courtesy call on Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se to exchange views on the future direction of the ROK-PICs cooperation.

◦ Minister Yun, bringing renewed attention to his visit to Fiji in September, -- the first of its kind by an ROK Foreign Minister -- stressed that the ROK government will make many efforts to step up its cooperation with the PICs in areas of the latter’s keen interest, including climate change, development cooperation, maritime affairs and fisheries.

◦ In particular, the Minister emphasized that as President Park Geun-hye had announced at the UN Sustainable Development Summit in September and on other occasions, the ROK government will boost development cooperation tailored to the needs of developing countries by providing 100 million US dollars for capacity building in the healthcare sector of developing countries; donating 200 million US dollars under the “Better Life for Girls” initiative; and developing Saemaul Undong (new community movement) into a new paradigm for agricultural and rural development in cooperation with the UN Development Programme (UNDP) and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). He added that by doing so, the ROK government will contribute to the sustainable development of the PICs and other developing countries.

7. After the courtesy call on the Foreign Minister, the PICs senior officials attended the “mock foreign ministers’ meeting on climate change,” hosted by the ROK Foreign Ministry as a side event of the SOM. They offered encouragement to the Korean student participants, who engaged in a heated debate, and exchanged views with them on climate change.

◦ The side event served as an opportunity for younger generations of the ROK to seriously discuss what has emerged as an international issue -- climate change -- as well as other challenges facing the PICs and other countries that are vulnerable to climate change.

◦ The PICs delegates commented that the side event served as a significant opportunity to understand the views of future leaders of the ROK with regard to the climate change issue and that the dialogue with them helped enhance mutual understanding and communication between the ROK and the PICs.


* unofficial translation