FM holds multilateral talks with MIKTA partners

SEOUL, Sept. 27 (Yonhap) -- Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha held talks with her counterparts of Mexico, Indonesia, Turkey and Australia on the margins of the U.N. General Assembly on Thursday (U.S. time) and exchanged views on topics of mutual interest, her ministry said.

The meeting was attended by Marcelo Ebrard, Retno Marsudi and Mevlut Cavusoglu -- the top diplomats of Mexico, Indonesia and Turkey, respectively -- and Australia's Ambassador to the U.N. Gillian Bird, the ministry said.

MIKTA, an acronym for the five countries derived from each of their names, is an informal multilateral consultative body set up in 2013 with an aim to support global governance and strengthen their partnership.

During the talks, Kang explained the current situation on the Korean Peninsula and her government's efforts toward denuclearization and permanent peace and asked for their continued support on the issue.

They also discussed joint efforts to promote their relations and other global agendas such as refugees and climate change and agreed to play an expanded role in these matters as a multilateral platform, the ministry added.

South Korea is due to take over the chairmanship of MIKTA from Mexico next year.

elly@yna.co.kr
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