FM discusses bilateral ties, hurricane recovery efforts with Mexican counterpart

▲ Foreign Minister Park Jin (R) shakes hands with his Mexican counterpart, Alicia Barcena Ibarra, ahead of their talks at the foreign ministry in Seoul on Dec. 8, 2023, in this photo provided by Park's office. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

S Korea-Mexico-FM talks

FM discusses bilateral ties, hurricane recovery efforts with Mexican counterpart

SEOUL, Dec. 8 (Yonhap) -- Foreign Minister Park Jin held talks with his Mexican counterpart Friday and discussed bilateral relations and other issues, including Mexico's recovery efforts in the wake of the hurricane devastation in one of its southern coastal cities, Park's office said.

In the talks with Mexico's top diplomat, Alicia Barcena Ibarra, Park expressed consolation to the people of Mexico who have lost their loved ones or suffered damage from Hurricane Otis, and pledged to cooperate closely for the swift delivery of the items and goods needed for the recovery.

Hurricane Otis struck Mexico's southern coastal city of Acapulco on Oct. 25, leaving at least 50 people dead and causing billions of dollars in damage.

Ibarra was visiting Seoul this week for talks with officials and companies here to secure supplies of emergency relief items to cope with the aftermath of the hurricane.

On bilateral relations, Park expressed hope for South Korea and Mexico to enhance trade and investment, calling for the need to resume negotiations on a bilateral free trade agreement.

Park repeated the call for Mexico's support for South Korea's bid to become an associate member of the Pacific Alliance, a regional economic bloc representing more than half of the trade volume in Latin America.

The two ministers agreed to strengthen cooperation at the MIKTA level based on common values of freedom, democracy and human rights, Park's office said.

MIKTA, consisting of Mexico, Indonesia, Turkey, South Korea and Australia, is an informal multilateral consultative body set up in 2013 to boost partnership among the middle power nations.

The ministers also agreed to continue joint efforts to stop North Korea's provocations and encourage the regime to return to denuclearization talks.

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