문 대통령, 아세안+3·EAS 참석...다자무역 지지
President Moon's diplomacy with other leaders in Asia continues this weekend.
On Saturday, he took part in the East Asia Summit and the ASEAN plus three summit, where he and the leaders of ASEAN, and China and Japan, discussed ways to work together in overcoming the pandemic and bringing about an economic recovery.
Hong Yoo has our top story.
In their summit on Saturday, the East Asia Summit member states promised to work together to revive their economies,... hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic,... and to cooperate in overcoming the unprecedented global health crisis.
To do that, and to achieve peace in East Asia, President Moon Jae-in suggested multilateral cooperation in disease prevention efforts.
He suggested that such close cooperation would be what enables East Asian countries to safely host the Olympic Games, which are scheduled next year in Tokyo, and then again in Beijing in the winter of 2022.
The participants also discussed ways to resolve other issues, such as marine sustainability and safety for women.
During the ASEAN plus three summit, which also took place on Saturday, the 10 member states, along with South Korea, China and Japan, adopted a joint statement on economic and financial resilience.
The joint statement calls for strengthening the connectivity and resilience of their supply chains by opening up markets, and strengthening cooperation to support the digitalization of small and medium-sized businesses that are vulnerable to COVID-19.
The South Korean leader emphasized that free trade and multilateralism are what will lead to the recovery of trade and investment.
"These are problems that no single country can solve on its own. We need to cooperate and combine our wisdom to strengthen the resilience of our economies, and to look for sustainable growth measures."
He also suggested taking health cooperation one step further by working together to develop vaccines and treatments and to ensure fair distribution.
And he added that they need to establish a fast and transparent mutual assistance system to prepare for any new infectious diseases that could arise.
Hong Yoo, Arirang News.