18 June 2023, Seoul. The Philippines participated in the 13^th Forum for East Asia-Latin America Cooperation (FEALAC) Cyber Secretariat Workshop held on 15 June 2023 at the Westin Josun Seoul. Under the theme “New Action, New Era: Revitalizing FEALAC Cooperation in Overcoming Shared Global Challenges”, the workshop gathered representatives and experts from East Asia and Latin America to discuss strengthening cooperation between the two regions and share best practices and ideas in revitalizing FEALAC projects.

The Philippines, as one of the active members of FEALAC, looks forward to continuous cooperation within the and will strive to support FEALAC projects in East Asia as well as in the Latin American region including through fresh funding to the FEALAC Trust Fund.

Announced early in the year by Ambassador Theresa Dizon-De Vega in a meeting with Director General Jong Uk Choi of MOFA, the Philippines is seeking to enhance its engagement in inter-regional cooperation between East Asia and Latin America with the additional donation to the fund.

FEALAC was established in 1999 and is the only multilateral consultative body that brings the East Asia and Latin American regions very close. The Republic of Korea launched the FEALAC Cyber Secretariat in 2011 has been implementing diverse projects and activities since.

Deputy Minister Youngsam Choi of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Korea in his opening remarks stated that the Republic of Korea aims to be a GPS nation, a “Global Pivotal State” and pursues the Indo Pacific Strategy to expand this cooperation beyond the geographical constrains of the Korean peninsula and Northeast Asia.

The Philippines, like the Republic of Korea, sees East Asia and Latin America as key partners in realizing this vision and looks forward to strengthening its partnership with each member state of FEALAC through bilateral and multilateral channels in the future. END