Today, Foreign Minister Jorge Faurie participated in the VIII Foreign Ministers' Meeting of the Forum for East Asia-Latin America Cooperation (FEALAC) held in the city of Busan, Republic of Korea, where he stressed the need to "strengthen multilateralism and cooperation as essential tools to maintain peace and promote the sustainable development of peoples”.
"In the context of this Forum, Argentina deems it appropriate to reaffirm its willingness to open up to and integrate with the world”, Faurie stated at the Foreign Ministers' Meeting, adding that "Argentina sees FEALAC as an especially important forum for its relations with East Asia."
"We must cooperate by thinking globally and acting locally. The region is our platform to integrate into the world”, the Argentine Foreign Minister added.
FEALAC is a multilateral cooperation forum established in 1999, which comprises 36 East Asian and Latin American countries. Argentina is a founding member of the organization, has served as Regional Coordinator twice and hosted the Ministers' Meeting in 2011. Within the framework of the current meeting, Argentina was in charge of coordinating the Working Group on Trade, Investment, Tourism and Small and Medium-sized Enterprises, which highlights Argentina's commitment to this issue in its relations with Asia.
"The countries that make up FEALAC represent approximately 40% of the world's population, 36% of the world's economy and one third of its trade. It also gathers the two most thriving regions in the world with the brightest prospects in terms of growth and investment attraction”, Faurie explained.
As regards MERCOSUR, he stated that "Asia-Pacific is a priority region for MERCOSUR, which has ongoing dialogue mechanisms with Japan, Australia, New Zealand and China. Negotiations on a free trade treaty with Korea will begin soon”.
"With respect to ASEAN, active High-Level dialogue between both blocs has been encouraged. The next one will take place in New York, in September, in the context of the United Nations General Assembly. We hope the meeting will serve to strengthen the ties with ASEAN as a group and with any state parties that may seek this on an individual basis as well”, he stated, adding that "in the next decades South-South economic and trade ties will become increasingly important”.
The head of Argentine diplomacy also highlighted that Argentina's main goal is to "promote open, transparent, equitable and rules-based international trade", in a reference to the 11th Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization (WTO), to be held in Buenos Aires next December. "There is no time to lose: the removal of distortions that continue to be present in areas such as the agricultural and fisheries sectors may contribute to food security, sustainable agriculture and fisheries, the eradication of poverty and the reduction of inequality, which will undoubtedly improve the welfare of the peoples of the FEALAC countries represented at this meeting”, Faurie underscored.
At the Forum, Argentina also presented the "Seminar on Creative Industries in Digital Convergence", aimed at East Asian FEALAC countries, with a view to positioning Argentina's candidacy as host of the 2023 Fair. The seminar will also prove important for strengthening the presence of Argentine cooperation in that region, in the context of the Argentine Fund for South-South and Triangular Cooperation (FO.AR).
