President Moon Jae-in and New Zealand PM Jacinda Ardin agree to boost bilateral cooperation
  • 5 years ago
During the final leg of his 8-day tour.... President Moon met with his counterpart from New Zealand Tuesday morning local time.... where the two leaders agreed to continue bilateral cooperation in various fields.
Our Blue House correspondent Hwang Hojun starts us off.
Trade. Defense. New Industry. And Antarctic Research.
These are the areas - according to President Moon Jae-in - where Seoul and Wellington have agreed to further boost cooperation... in order to enhance their 56-year-long bilateral relationship.
The summit meeting between President Moon and Jacinda Ardern, the Prime Minister of New Zealand, took place on Tuesday Morning local time.
During which, the South Korean President noted that New Zealand is not
only an important partner for the Moon administration's "New Southern Policy," but a country that shares a common goal with South Korea.

"Prime Minister Arden and I share a common political philosophy of pursuing inclusive growth and sustainable development. I look forward to working alongside the New Zealand Prime Minister to develop our relationship in a more mutually beneficial and future-oriented manner."

During their meeting, the two leaders agreed that the free trade agreement between Korea and New Zealand, which took effect in 2015, has become a solid foundation to promote trade and investment between the two countries,... and pledged to continue such cooperation especially by synergizing the strengths of both countries - New Zealand's agriculture and South Korea's infrastructure construction technology.
Another technological collaboration will take place in Antarctic research fusing New Zealand's vast experience as the original signee of the Antarctic Treaty and state-of-the-art research technologies developed by South Korea.
The leaders also welcomed the scheduled launch of New Zealand's new South Korea-made military supply ship in 2019,... and discussed ways to further expand the countries' people-to-people exchanges.
During the joint press conference, President Moon and Prime Minister Arden confirmed New Zealand's support for South Korea's efforts to establish peace on the Peninsula.
When asked about North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's proposed visit to Seoul,... President Moon insisted there is a possibility that it to take place within the year.
He emphasized, however, what's more important than whether the visit will happen within the year or not, is to realize Kim Jong-un's visit to Seoul may lead to greater progress on North Korea's denuclearization.
Hwang Hojun, Arirang News.
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