[Newsmaker] FM Kang voices hope for strengthening anti-virus cooperation with Latin America

Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha expressed hope Monday for South Korea and Latin American countries to strengthen cooperation in overcoming the new coronavirus and charting a path for a post-pandemic economic recovery.

Kang delivered opening remarks during the 2020 Korea-LAC Future Cooperation Forum hosted by Seoul's ministries of foreign affairs and health to promote cooperation with Latin American and Caribbean countries.

"We are in a situation that urgently calls for the entire world to respond to COVID-19 through solidarity and cooperation, and we hope to further expand and strengthen bilateral cooperation, first of all in public health and quarantine areas," Kang said.

"We hope to strengthen mutual cooperation in terms of an economic recovery strategy for the post-COVID-19 era," she added, pointing to fifth-generation communications networks, electronic governance and cybersecurity as key areas of future cooperation.

Health Minister Park Neunghoo also called for South Korea and Latin America to work together to nurture medical professionals, establish anti-pandemic systems based on information and communication technologies and ensure the fair distribution of vaccines and other therapeutics. 

The forum, set to run through Tuesday online and offline, also involved senior foreign officials, including Ecuador's Foreign Minister Luis Gallegos.

First held in 2008, the forum is the largest Latin America-related event held in Korea. (Yonhap)