Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan held a Korea-New Zealand Foreign Ministers’ Meeting with his counterpart Murray McCully, who is in Korea on an official visit, on October 27. Noting with satisfaction the development of bilateral relations into a close partnership, the two sides discussed vitalizing high-level officials’ exchange and a bilateral consultative body as well as other ways for cooperation in the government-affairs field.
The two Foreign Ministers took note of the fact that the volume of the two-way trade has grown more than three-fold to some US$2 billion since 1990 and that two rounds of negotiations have taken place over the envisioned Korea-New Zealand FTA as planned following the declaration of their inception during President Lee Myung-bak’s visit to New Zealand in March 2009.
While conveying hope for the success of the KANZ (Korea-Australia-New Zealand) Broadband Summit slated for this coming November in Auckland, Minister Yu requested that New Zealand take interest in and help Korean firms take the opportunity to participate in projects for broadband-Internet network expansion in the country.
Minister Yu expressed hope for people-to-people exchange with New Zealand, one of Koreans’ preferred destinations for studies, emigration and tourism. Viewing that the Working Holiday Program plays a significant role in boosting exchanges and mutual understanding between the youth of the two countries, he requested continued consultations for the expansion of the Program. The Working Holiday Program between Korea and New Zealand was signed in April 1994 and an average of 1,342 Koreans and 11 New Zealanders participated in the Program every year since 2004.
