1. First Secretary Jang Sung Hwa at the Permanent Mission of the Republic of Korea in Geneva has been elected as Chair of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade (one-year term) on June 4.

o Secretary Jang will serve for one year until May 2020 as Chair of the Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade, in which 164 WTO members participate.

2. The WTO TBT Committee is one of the 12 committees of the Council for Trade in Goods.

o The WTO TBT Committee meets three times a year to discuss the members’ implementation of the TBT Agreement, and issues regarding technical regulations.

o During the meetings of the Committee, the ROK holds multilateral and bilateral meetings with other countries to discuss ways to resolve difficulties that Korean export companies are facing due to technical restrictions in the other countries.

3. Secretary Jang’s election as Chair of the TBT Committee came at a time when the spread of protectionism around the world has led to a significant increase in technical restrictions in major countries.

o His chairmanship of the Committee is expected to contribute to strengthening compliance with and implementation of agreements at the multilateral trading system.

* unofficial translation