Mekong Countries, Republic of Korea Upgrade Relations to Strategic Partnership

Countries of the Mekong subregion and the Republic of Korea (RoK) agreed to raise bilateral relations to a "Strategic Partnership for People, Prosperity, and Peace" at the second Mekong-RoK Summit held on 13 November 2020, which was chaired by RoK President Moon Jae-in and Viet Nam Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc.  

The meeting noted the reinforced cooperation in public health amid the pandemic, and hailed recovery of trading volumes between the RoK and the Mekong subregion to 2019 level.  

The Mekong nations and the RoK committed to strengthen cooperation in seven priority areas: culture and tourism, human resources development, agriculture and rural development, infrastructure, information and communications, environment, and non-traditional challenges. They also committed to improve resiliency of regional supply chains and facilitate business activities.  

The RoK pledged to work with Mekong nations to ensure equitable access to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine.  The RoK will contribute $10 million to help provide COVID-19 vaccines to developing countries through the COVAX (COVID-19 Vaccine Global Access) Advance Market Commitment.  

The RoK also vowed to continue efforts to institutionalize the essential movement of people across borders while strengthening the region’s infrastructure and connectivity. 

The RoK supports select projects in the GMS Regional Investment Framework (RIF) 2022 [5]. RoK support focuses on the transport sector, and health and other human resource development sectors.