The Diplomat
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Arancha González Laya, held a telephone conversation yesterday with her South Korean counterpart, Kang Kyung-wha, with whom she discussed, among other matters, bilateral cooperation in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.
During the conversation, the two ministers discussed “cooperation in public health matters, boosting economic and trade relations between Spain and South Korea and collaboration in promoting multilateralism”, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Twitter account.
Furthermore, González Laya and Kang “discussed the supply and demand situation for COVID-19 vaccines in their respective countries and agreed to continue bilateral and multilateral cooperation to tackle the virus“, according to the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs through the state news agency Yonhap.
In this regard, Kang expressed her wish for Spain to complete, “at an early date”, its process of joining the International Vaccine Institute (IVI), an international non-profit organisation based in Seoul, which collaborates in the development of and access to vaccines for developing countries, with special attention to the most common and neglected diseases in these regions. The IVI has 35 members (including China, Brazil, India, Israel, the Netherlands, South Korea, Romania, Sweden and Turkey) and the World Health Organisation (WHO) as a signatory to the founding agreement.
The South Korean minister also requested Spain’s active participation in the summit of the Partnership for Green Growth and Global Goals 2030, also known as P4G, which will be organised by the South Korean government this year. The P4G is a public-private initiative to address climate change and other sustainable development challenges.
