[10th] September 30, 2008 Home | Full Contents | MOFAT Homepage   Korea-Romania Summit Statement for the Media by President Lee Myung-bak Following a Summit with President Traian Băsescu of Romania September 11, 2008 Along with all Koreans, I extend my heartfelt welcome to President Traian Băsescu of Romania on his second state visit to Korea since 2005. I am grateful to his Excellency for showing extraordinary interest in Korea and visiting the country. At today’s summit, we made a positive assessment of progress in bilateral relations and discussed concrete ways to enhance substantive cooperation in the economy and trade. In addition, we had a valuable exchange of views on a wide range of issues, including developments on the Korean Peninsula, climate change and other regional circumstances as well as collaboration between Korea and Romania in the international arena. Right after the summit, President Băsescu and I signed a Joint Declaration on the Establishment of a Strategic Partnership between the Republic of Korea and Romania, thereby elevating bilateral relations to the next level. Taking this occasion, we agreed to further develop close cooperative ties between the two countries not only in the fields of the economy and trade, but also in such areas as politics, security, society and culture. On top of this, the two countries concurred on the need to adopt action plans to give shape to the strategic partnership in the foreseeable future. President Băsescu and I saw eye-to-eye on the fact that bilateral exchanges and cooperation have steadily advanced centering on the economic field since the establishment of diplomatic ties in March 1990. We agreed to continue to further promote such cooperative ties. To be specific, President Băsescu and I agreed to develop substantive economic ties through collaboration in the fields of construction of nuclear power plants and ports as well as energy and information technology. To this end, we reached an agreement to positively examine ways for Korean businesses to participate in related projects in Romania. In addition, we reconfirmed the fact that Romania constitutes one of the major investment destinations for Korean businesses. President Băsescu agreed to provide unreserved cooperation to make sure that Korean companies will be able to do business without difficulties in Romania. President Băsescu and I also exchanged views on the situation surrounding the Korean Peninsula, the Balkan Peninsula and the Black Sea. Among other things, I extended profound appreciation to the President for Romania’s interest and support for peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and the denuclearization of North Korea. On top of this, we saw eye-to-eye on the need to strengthen collaboration between our two countries in dealing with global issues, including climate change, energy security and UN reforms. Once again, I am very pleased that Korea and Romania has formed a strategic partnership. I hope that bilateral relations will become increasingly closer and exchanges and cooperation will be further expanded over the years to come.   Korea-Uruguay Summit President Lee Myung-bak held a summit with President Tabare Vazquez of Uruguay on September 1 during the Uruguayan President's visit to Korea from August 30 to September 3. At the summit, President Lee welcomed President Vazquez, who is the first Uruguayan President to visit Korea since the establishment of diplomatic ties between the two countries in October 1964. The Korean President expressed hope that his visit would serve as an opportunity to further enhance bilateral relations on the basis of traditionally friendly cooperative ties between the two nations. President Lee asked his counterpart to provide assistance for Korean businesses advancing to Uruguay. He also expressed a wish to expand substantive cooperation in a wide range of areas, including the economy, trade and culture. Among other things, President Lee highly appreciated the groundwork that has been laid out for the expansion of collaboration in forestry and fisheries through an agreement on cooperation that was signed this time. President Vazquez concurred on the need to strengthen substantive collaboration in the trade and energy. He expressed hope that Korean businesses would expand investment in his country and that, to this end, the two countries would conclude agreements on investment guarantees and on avoidance of double taxation. Meanwhile, the two leaders appreciated the way the two countries have closely cooperated in the UN and other international organizations and decided to make sustained efforts in this field. FM Visited Russia / Mongolia Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Yu Myung-hwan visited Russia from September 9 to 11 to discuss the visit of President Lee Myung-bak to Russia slated for this fall. He also visited Mongolia from September 12 to 13. Minister Yu met with Russian Foreign Minister S. Lavrov and Presidential aide S. Prikhodko. He discussed with the Russian side bilateral cooperation in energy and Siberian development and the timetable of President Lee’s visit to Russia. The two sides also exchanged views on major international issues, such as North Korea’s nuclear issue and the political landscape surrounding the Korean Peninsula.  During the visit to Mongolia, Minister Yu had a Korea-Mongolia Foreign Ministers’ Meeting and met with President of Mongolia Nambaryn Enkhbayar and Prime Minister Sanjaagiin Bayar. Minister Yu established a foundation for cooperation with the new Mongolian administration and exchanged views on matters of mutual interest, such as the development of relations between Korea and Mongolia. Also, Minister Yu requested cooperation on Korean companies’ participation in resources development in Mongolia and had in-depth discussions on the improvement of trade and economic relations and the revitalization of people-to-people and cultural exchanges between the two nations. The visit of Minister Yu to Mongolia marked the first official visit of a Korean Foreign Minister in 10 years and is expected to contribute to the development of friendly cooperative relations between Korea and Mongolia. Executive Secretary of UN ESCAP visited Korea The 63rd Session of the UN General Assembly UN High-Level Meeting on Africa’s Development Needs Korea-Latin America Economic Cooperation and Business Forum The 3rd Korea-U.S. Vice Ministerial Strategic Dialogue Speech at the Korea-Latin America Economic Cooperation and Business Forum Dinner Party Korean Traditional Martial Arts, ’Taekwondo’   The Ministry`s policy customers service conforms to the privacy guidelines. Illegal collection of personal information can be punished under related laws. 37 Sejong-no, Jongno-gu, Seoul 110-787, Republic of Korea TEL :(82-2)2100-8011 FAX : (82-2)2100-7913 fprteam.mofa.go.kr Copyrights 2007 Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. All Rights Reserved.