1. The Foreign Ministry’s Director-General for African and Middle Eastern Affairs Kwon Hee-seog will visit Tehran, Iran, on April 5 and 6 and hold a policy consultation between the Republic of Korea and Iran with Director-General for East Asia-Pacific Mahmoud Farazandeh of the Iranian Foreign Ministry.

2. The two Directors-General will engage in an extensive exchange of views on ways to boost high-level exchanges; ways to support bids of Korean companies to expand their presence in Iran, whose sanctions have been lifted; ways to increase exchanges in the fields of development, culture and academia; the situation in the Middle East, including Syria, Iraq and Yemen, as well as the refugee issue; ways to implement the UN Security Council resolution on North Korea adopted in response to the country’s nuclear and missile provocations, and the situation in Northeast Asia; and ways for the ROK and Iran to work together on the international stage.

3. Since the sanctions against Iran were lifted on Implementation Day, which fell on January 16, and beyond under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), many countries have been actively seeking presence in the Iranian market. In order to promote cooperation with Iran amid this, the ROK government will continue high-level cooperation with Iran, including through the forthcoming director-general-level and deputy ministerial policy consultations, and exchanges at the foreign ministerial and vice foreign ministerial levels.


* unofficial translation