- The 1st Joint Fisheries Committee between Korea and the Philippines –

The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries (MOF; Minister MOON, Seong-Hyeok) announced to convene ‘the 1st Korea-Philippines Joint Fisheries Committee’ at 2:00 p.m. on Friday October 1, virtually at Government Complex Sejong to enhance further cooperation between the two nations in the fields of fisheries and aquaculture. 

The Korean delegation is led by Mr. WOO Dong-Sik, Director-General for International Cooperation Bureau and assisted by 11 other representatives from NIFS (National Institute of Fisheries Science), Fisheries Monitoring Center (FMC) and KMI (Korea Maritime Institute). The Filipino delegation is led by Ms. Cheryl Marie Natividad-Caballero, Under Secretary for Agri Industrialization and for Fisheries from the Department of Agriculture and 12 other participants from the Filipino Government and the Embassy in Seoul are also joining the meeting.

The Joint Fisheries Committee (shortly called as JFC) serves as a bilateral consultative body that explores new areas of cooperation, being hosted for the first time this year under the Memorandum of Understanding on the cooperation in the fields of fisheries signed by the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries of the Republic of Korea and the Department of Agriculture of the Republic of the Philippines in November 2019 on the occasion of the ROK-ASEAN Commemorative Summit.

The 1st JFC meeting is consisted of two sessions. The first session provides introduction on fisheries-related policies of each nation and enhances mutual understanding via sharing research best practices on the management of fisheries and aquatic bio-resources and on mitigation of contamination in shellfish growing areas. It is followed by the second session to conduct bilateral discussions on newly proposed joint projects such as capacity-building and technical cooperation in the field of fisheries.

In particular, MOF plans to take this opportunity to introduce the nation’s fisheries monitoring system and explore areas of cooperation with the Philippines to better achieve sustainable development of fisheries via close monitoring of fishing activities.

Director-General WOO, Dong-Sik said, “I truly look forward to discovering further substantive joint projects through strengthening bilateral partnership on fisheries with the Philippines, one of our close partners from ASEAN at the very 1st JFC meeting.” He also added, “MOF re-affirms its commitment for enhanced level of bilateral cooperation with the Philippines to pave the way for Korean businesses to actively enter the Filipino market via expanding the scope of the national cooperation from the sector of policies and research and development to the private sector.” /END/