Opening Remarks
at the First Senior Officials’ Meeting of
the Asia-Pacific Democracy Partnership

Minister Oyun,
Excellencies,
Distinguished Delegates,

It is indeed a great pleasure for me to welcome all of you to the First Senior Officials’ Meeting of the Asia-Pacific Democracy Partnership (APDP).

I would like to express my appreciation to the representatives of the twelve countries attending this important meeting, in spite of the fairly short notice.  In particular, I am glad to see again Her Excellency Ms. Sanjaasuren Oyun, Former Minister for Foreign Affairs of Mongolia, whom I met last month in Ulaanbaatar as my counterpart then, and who will kindly make a keynote speech this morning.

Distinguished Delegates,

The Asia-Pacific Democracy Partnership is designed to promote and strengthen democracy in this region. 

Today, we are witnessing the rapid expansion and constant development of democracy all over the world.  Countries are facing and forging strong bonds of cooperation to strengthen effective democratic governance in their respective regions.  In the Asia-Pacific region, however, we have yet to foster such a multilateral cooperation mechanism devoted to the promotion of democracy.   It is against this backdrop that the APDP has been conceived as a new partnership for emerging democracies in the region. 

Many of us started our preliminary exchange of views on this new initiative on several occasions in recent years, including the Mali Conference of the Community of Democracies in 2007.  There has been an increasing consensus that the overall trend of political and social development in this region warrants such a partnership. 

This year, substantial progress was made in realizing this initiative -- the first APDP election observation mission was dispatched to Mongolia in June, after which the Planning Meeting was held in Ulaanbaatar, co-chaired by the United States and Mongolia.  In this regard, I wish to take this opportunity to thank the United States and Mongolia for the leading roles they have played in building the foundation of this new Partnership.

The Ulaanbaatar Planning Meeting laid important groundwork for the launch of the APDP.   We agreed on the importance of regional democratic cooperation, and supported the holding of a Senior Officials’ Meeting.  We also emphasized the need to clarify the modalities, including the mandate and membership criteria.   Indeed, at this formative stage, there are many issues to be addressed regarding the future direction of the APDP.

Therefore, I am very glad that all of you have accepted my invitation to be here today.  I look forward to today’s meeting to build upon the achievements of the Planning Meeting, and to serve as a significant milestone in the development of the new Partnership.  Above all, I hope that we will work out a durable mechanism through which the APDP can consistently carry out effective and practical activities, such as election observation and election-related capacity-building.

Distinguished Delegates,

The Republic of Korea is firmly committed to the advancement of democracy, working in close cooperation with the international community to this end.  Indeed, the modern history of Korea bears testimony to the resilience of democracy.  In the decades following the devastating Korean War, Korea was able to achieve a vibrant democracy as well as remarkable economic development, because despite many setbacks, we never gave up on our hope for democratization.  And of course, the continued support rendered by the international community was also indispensable in our pursuit of democracy.

Having come a long and hard way, Korea now strives to do its part in the global efforts to further spread and promote democracy.  We have participated in the Community of Democracies as an original member of the Convening Group and hosted the Second Ministerial Conference of the Community of Democracies in 2002.  At this First Senior Officials’ Meeting of the APDP here in Seoul, my government reaffirms its commitment to regional cooperation for democracy.   We will spare no efforts to work closely with all the partners here in developing the APDP.

Allow me to bring my remarks to a close by extending once again my warm welcome to all of you.  I am confident that, through active and constructive discussions, and with the benefit of our shared insights and enthusiasm, this meeting will bear much fruit. 

To this end, I would like to encourage the delegates to take part in the discussions with an abundance of creativity and foresight so that we may gain higher ground in realizing our common goal of expanding and strengthening democracy in our region.  Thank you very much.  /END/