26 October 2022, Busan, Korea—Foreign Ministers and other heads of delegations for 12 Pacific nations have ended the 5th Korea – Pacific Islands Foreign Ministers meeting on a high note.
In support of regional unity, the Republic of Korea and Pacific Ministers agreed to expand the scope of future meetings to include all member countries and territories of the Pacific Islands Forum, beginning with the June 2023 Korea – Pacific Leaders’ Summit.
Secretary General Puna said: “The 2050 Strategy has deepened Pacific unity and now forms the basis for engagement with Korea and all our Forum Dialogue Partners. We welcome and commend the decision today for future meetings with Korea to include all Pacific Islands Forum members, as representative of our Pacific family and our Pacific political decision-making body.”
Under the 2022 meeting theme of a ‘Vision for a Resilient Blue Pacific’, the Ministers agreed to strengthen cooperation in support of Forum Leaders’ 2050 Strategy for the Blue Pacific Continent with a focus on climate change and disasters, oceans, and fisheries; COVID-19 economic recovery; technology and connectivity; and people to people links.
The 5th Korea – Pacific Islands Foreign Ministers Meeting included a focus on climate change action ahead of COP27 taking place in Egypt next month and the Pacific’s calls for scaled up ambition and implementation to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees and deliver on global finance commitments.
On oceans and fisheries, the meeting shared mutual concerns and calls to action on nuclear contamination in the ocean, Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing, and reaching a global ocean agreement on biodiversity beyond national jurisdictions.
The Republic of Korea has been a Forum Dialogue Partner since 1995 and provides regional development cooperation through the Republic of Korea – Pacific Islands Forum Cooperation Fund. --ENDS
CONTACT: media@forumsec.org
LINK: Joint Statement of outcomes of the 5th Korea-Pacific Island Countries Foreign Ministers Meeting
