S. Korea calls for information sharing on essential traveler policies in APEC ministers' meeting

South Korea has called for countries to actively share information about policies on allowing the entry of essential travelers from overseas as part of efforts to facilitate trade and investment amid the pandemic, officials said Tuesday.

Seoul made the proposal during a ministerial meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) held virtually on Monday (Seoul time) and attended by senior government officials of 21 member countries, the foreign ministry said.

The meeting came ahead of the APEC summit slated for Friday.

During Monday's meeting, Seoul's Trade Minister Yoo Myung-hee stressed that sharing such policy details would contribute to boosting "people-to-people connectivity" in the region.

She also called for other effective ways to ensure that emergency trade measures designed to support industries affected by COVID-19, such as non-tariff measures, do not result in creating unnecessary barriers to trade.

She also stressed the importance of reforming the World Trade Organization (WTO) in order to restore the multilateral trade system.

Second Vice Foreign Minister Lee Tae-ho, who was also present at Monday's meeting, underlined efforts toward "inclusive, sustainable and qualitative growth" to overcome the current health crisis and explained Seoul's contribution to developing vaccines and treatment to that end.

In the joint statement released after the meeting, the countries reaffirmed their commitment to facilitating economic recovery and continuing cooperation in combating COVID-19, including efforts to establish a digital platform to share pandemic responses, according to the ministry. (Yonhap)