The Outcomes of the fourth trilateral committee

2007-01-12 17:03
Seoul--(뉴스와이어)--Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Song Min-soon held the fourth round of the ROK-China-Japan Trilateral Committee with Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing and Japanese Senior Vice Foreign Minister Asano Katsuhito in Cebu, the Philippines, on January 12, to fine-tune views prior to the ROK-China-Japan Summit scheduled for January 14 and discuss regional situations including ways to resolve the North Korean nuclear issue in a peaceful manner.

The three foreign ministers noted the development of cooperation among the three countries in various areas, adopted the "2005-2006 Progress Report on ROK-China-Japan Cooperation" which will be submitted to the ROK-China-Japan Summit and agreed to further promote trilateral cooperation based on the 2003 Joint Declaration and the 2004 Action Strategy.

Minister Song brought up the need to hold trilateral foreign ministers' meetings annually in the three countries apart from holding it on the sidelines of multilateral meetings with an aim to substantialize and accelerate systematic development of trilateral cooperation, and proposed to hold such a meeting in Korea this year. The Chinese and Japanese sides agreed with our proposal, further details of which will be discussed through diplomatic channels in the future.

The three ministers shared the view that a peaceful resolution of the North Korean nuclear issue is essential for the maintenance of peace and stability in the Northeast Asian region, and agreed to have close consultations in efforts to arrive at substantial outcomes such as early resumption of the Six-Party Talks and early implementation of the September 19 Joint Statement.