Japanese Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki and his South Korean counterpart Choo Kyung-ho agreed Tuesday to resume dialogue between finance authorities of the two countries, Kyodo News Agency reported.
The agreement came during their meeting, the first formal finance ministerial talks between the two neighbors in seven years, in Incheon near Seoul, according to the report.
“The two nations are engaged in summit-level dialogue proactively so it’s important that finance-track talks also proceed,” Suzuki told reporters, adding that the finance authorities will meet “at an appropriate time.” The finance dialogue is a framework for senior officials from the two nations to discuss economic and financial issues, and was previously held in 2016.
In March, South Korea made a proposal to resolve the issue of Japan’s compensation for wartime Korean laborers, helping improve ties that had hit their lowest point in years over the labor issue and others related to Japan’s 1910-1945 colonization of the Korean Peninsula.
Choo welcomed the recent improvement in mood between the two nations, which share universal values and promote free trade, the report said.
“We need to strengthen cooperation between financial authorities on the recent emergence of geopolitical risks and supply chain instability,” Choo was quoted as saying at the outset of the meeting with Suzuki.
The meeting was held on the fringes of gatherings related to the Asian Development Bank this week
Source: Kuwait News Agency