South Korea and four other middle powers will hold a senior officials' meeting in Seoul this week in the run-up to a meeting of their foreign ministers slated for late May, Seoul's foreign ministry said Tuesday.
MIKTA is an informal cooperative body created by Mexico, Indonesia, the Republic of Korea, Turkey and Australia in September 2013 in a bid to enhance coordination on global issues of common interest. The name MIKTA is an acronym of the member nations.
MIKTA plans to have a deputy foreign minister-level meeting on Friday in a symbolic step to show that MIKTA is evolving as a core cooperative body of the middle powers, the ministry said. A foreign ministers' meeting is slated for late May, but the specific date has not been decided.
South Korea has assumed the role of coordinator since last September after Mexico. This week's meeting will be the first senior officials' meeting since MIKTA was created.
The three-session meeting to be hosted by Deputy Foreign Minister for Political Affairs Lee Kyung-soo will deal with how to promote cooperation, including creation of the MIKTA website and setting of guidelines for activities.
Also on the discussion table are how to build networks for specific cooperative projects and details about the planned foreign ministers' meeting, it added.
"Seoul's successful host of the senior officials' talks and the May foreign ministers' meeting will pave the way for further strengthening solidarity among MIKTA countries," Lee said in a statement.
The top diplomats from MIKTA discussed how to cope with terrorism and the Ebola outbreak and to address sexual violence against women during conflict at their fourth round of meetings held in Australia in November on the sidelines of the G20 summit, according to the foreign ministry. (Yonhap)
