Outcomes of Minister’s Visit to the Netherlands

2007-10-12 15:47
Seoul--(뉴스와이어)--Minister Song Min-soon, who is currently on a visit to four European countries, met with Albert Gerard Koenders, the Acting Foreign Minister and Development and Cooperation Minister of the Netherlands, and Minister for Trade Maria van der Hoeven in Amsterdam on October 11. They had talks on the situation on the Korean Peninsula, on ways to promote cooperation between Korea and the Netherlands, and also on global issues such as climate change and international peacekeeping operations.

Minister Song explained the outcomes of the recent South-North Korean summit and the progress at the Six-party talks for resolving the North Korean nuclear issue, and asked for the constructive role of the Netherlands, for bringing peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula.

Minister Song and Minister Koenders expressed their satisfaction with the increase of bilateral cooperation, and agreed to exert collaborative efforts to conclude the ROK-EU Free Trade Agreement at the earliest date possible. Also, they agreed to work together in sharing experiences of logistics management, since Korea and the Netherlands are both gateways to Northeast Asia and Europe, and there is great potential for the two nations to cooperate in the logistics sector.

Minister Song and Minister Hoeven agreed to strengthen cooperative ties in dealing with global issues such as climate change, official development assistance(ODA), and the international peacekeeping operations.

During his visit to the Netherlands, Minister Song visited the Memorial of Patriot Lee Jun in the Hague. He paid homage to the special envoys who were dispatched to the Hague Peace Conference 100 years ago, and delivered words of encouragement to the people working for the Memorial.