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Yoon Arrives in Washington for Trilateral Summit

President Yoon Suk Yeol speaks during a ceremony to mark the start of business for the new year at the former presidential office Cheong Wa Dae in Seoul on Jan. 2, 2023.(Yonhap/IANS)

“Trilateral consultations among South Korea, the US and Japan will gain a clear independent identity as an Indo-Pacific cooperation body.”…reports Asian Lite News

 South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol has arrived in Washington to attend a trilateral summit on Friday with his US counterpart Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on ways to enhance security cooperation in the face of North Korea’s nuclear threat.

The summit will be held at the Camp David presidential retreat in Maryland, marking the first time the three countries’ leaders will meet for a stand-alone trilateral summit that’s not on the sidelines of a multilateral event, reports Yonhap News Agency.

The summit was proposed by Biden when the three leaders met on the margins of a G7 summit in Japan in May as the US pushes to lock in recently improved Seoul-Tokyo ties in a trilateral framework countering China and Russia’s growing assertiveness.

As such, cooperation on economic security issues, such as building resilient supply chains for semiconductors and batteries, is also expected to feature high on the agenda.

“Through the upcoming South Korea-US-Japan summit, Camp David will be recorded as the site of 21st century diplomatic history that opened a new chapter in trilateral cooperation,” Principal Deputy National Security Adviser Kim Tae-hyo told reporters.

“Trilateral consultations among South Korea, the US and Japan will gain a clear independent identity as an Indo-Pacific cooperation body.”

Kim said the summit will help the countries create and institutionalise a “key framework” for trilateral cooperation in the future, while also allowing the leaders to discuss a common vision and basic principles for trilateral cooperation and build comprehensive and multilayered cooperation mechanisms across diverse sectors at every level.

The three leaders plan to adopt two documents — the “Camp David Principles” and the “Spirit of Camp David” — with the first one containing sustainable guidelines for trilateral cooperation going forward, and the second outlining their vision for trilateral cooperation and its implementation plan.

“Under Principles, the leaders of the three countries will state their principle of strengthening cooperation for peace and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific region, including on the Korean Peninsula, among ASEAN states and Indo-Pacific island nations, and across the globe, based on their common values and rules,” Kim said in a separate briefing on Thursday.

The Spirit of Camp David will be a joint statement outlining concrete measures to enhance trilateral cooperation through the establishment of a new consultation body and cooperation on extended deterrence, combined military exercises and economic security, he said.

A third document is currently under discussion but has yet to be finalised, he added.

In addition to the trilateral summit, Yoon will hold bilateral meetings with Biden and Kishida on Friday, Kim said.

The three leaders will also have lunch together and hold a joint press conference.

Yoon will depart the US on Friday evening to return home.

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India-France-UAE trilateral gains steam

India, France, UAE discuss cooperation in trilateral framework, to promote compatibility and co-production in defence sector

Noting that defence is an area of close cooperation, Foreign Ministers of India, France and UAE have decided that efforts will be undertaken to further promote compatibility, joint development and co-production while seeking out avenues for further collaboration and training defence forces of the three countries.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, France Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan held a phone call in which they discussed collaboration in areas such as education, business, maritime and green energy. “Discussed convergences and further collaboration in education, business, maritime, culture and green energy for a stable peaceful and prosperous Indo-Pacific,” Jaishankar said in a tweet.

The three foreign ministers had met for the first time in a trilateral format in September last year on the margins of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

They agreed to establish a formal trilateral cooperation initiative, with the aim of expanding cooperation in various fields of mutual interest in acknowledgement of their shared desire to promote international stability and prosperity, and to further build upon the constructive and collaborative ties that exist between the three countries.

It is in this context that a phone call between the three Ministers was held on Saturday to adopt a roadmap for the implementation of this initiative.

During the phone call, the three sides agreed that the trilateral initiative will serve as a forum to promote the design and execution of cooperation projects in the fields of energy, with a focus on solar and nuclear energy, as well as in the fight against climate change and the protection of biodiversity, particularly in the Indian Ocean region, a joint statement said.

For this purpose, the three countries will explore the possibility of working with the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) to pursue concrete, actionable projects on clean energy, the environment, and biodiversity, a statement said.

It said the trilateral initiative will serve as a platform to expand cooperation between the three countries’ development agencies on sustainable projects.

The three countries agreed that they will seek to ensure greater alignment of their respective economic, technological, and social policies with the objectives of the Paris Agreement.

“In support of these endeavours, a range of trilateral events will be organized in the framework of the Indian Presidency of the G20 and the UAE’s hosting of COP-28 in 2023, respectively,” the statement said.

The three countries also agreed to expand their cooperation through initiatives such as the Mangrove Alliance for Climate led by the UAE and the Indo-Pacific Parks Partnership led by India and France.

It was agreed that the three countries should seek to focus on key issues such as single-use plastic pollution, desertification, and food security in the context of the International Year of Millets-2023. The three sides also underlined their keen desire to cooperate in the field of the circular economy under the aegis of India’s Mission LiFE.

“It was acknowledged that defence is an area of close cooperation between the three countries. Therefore, efforts will be undertaken to further promote compatibility, and joint development and co-production, whilst seeking out avenues for further collaboration and training between the three countries’ defence forces,” the statement said.

The three countries will seek to strengthen exchanges of views on emerging threats from infectious diseases, as well as on measures to fight against future pandemics.

“In this regard, cooperation in multilateral organizations such as World Health Organization (WHO), Gavi-the Vaccine Alliance, the Global Fund, and Unitaid will be encouraged,” the statement said.

The three countries will also attempt to identify tangible cooperation on implementing the “One Health” approach, and support the development of local capacities in biomedical innovation and production within developing countries.

As countries at the very forefront of technological innovation, the development of trilateral cooperation between relevant academic and research institutions and efforts to promote co-innovation projects, technology transfer, and entrepreneurship will be encouraged, the statement said.

“In this context, trilateral conferences and meetings on the sidelines of high-level technology events such as Vivatech, Bengaluru Tech Summit, and GITEX will be arranged to support such cooperation,” it added.

The statement said that in recognition of the critical role social and human bonds play in their constructive partnership, France, India, and the UAE will ensure that this trilateral initiative will be leveraged as a platform to promote cultural cooperation, through a range of joint projects, including heritage promotion and protection. (ANI)

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