7th Korea-Spain Forum opens in Seoul

Park Chul, President of Hankuk University of Foreign Studies (HUFS), center right, exchanges business cards with a Spanish participant in the opening ceremony of the 7th Korea-Spain Forum held Thursday (July 26) at Hotel Shilla.

‘Learning from Each Other, Sharing with Each Other’ 

The 7th Korea-Spain fourm opened Thursday (July 26) for two-day meeting under the theme of “learning from each other, sharing with each other” at Hotel Shilla in downtown Seoul.

The forum started in 2003, as a venue for exchangeing opinions among the leading figures of the two countries.  The Korea Foundation and Casa Asia have been playing leading role for organizing the bilateral forum. The 6th Korea-Spain forum was held in Spain.  

In an opening ceremonu, Kim Woo-sang, president of Korea Foundation, said “the international community is faced with unprecedented difficulties such as global financial crisis, environment pollution, energy shortage and nuclear disaster. Cooperations among countries regardless of their size are needed  to cope with such global issues.”

Kim also emphasized the importance of the current fourm, saying that “this year’s forum is set to discuss trilateral economic cooperations among Korea, Spain and Latin American countries. Matters concerning exchanges of culture, university students as well as cooperations in the fields of trade, industry and tourism will also be discussed, he said.

Ramon Moreno, director general of Casa Asia, also stressed the importance of cooperation in various fields being pursued by the forum, saying that “the cooperative relationship between the two conties through the forum should be continued in the years ahead.”

He also pledged that Casa Asian will not spare any efforts to open the Cerbantes Cultural Institute as soon as possible in Korea. “As Korea is emerging as an important stepping stone for Spain to advance to Asia, the cooperative relationship between the two nations is hoped to be further strengthened in the years to come,” he continued.     

Delegates from Korean side included Kim Woo-sang, President of Korea Foundation, Park Chul, President of Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, Lee Hong-Koo, Ex-Prime Minister as well as Advisor to the Joongang Ilbo, and Han Duk-soo, former Prime Minister as well as President of Korea International Trade Association etc.

Participants from Spain side included Ramon M Moreno, director general of Casa Asia; Ernesto de Zulueta, director general for North America & Asia-Pacific, Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs & Cooperation, and Luis Arias Romero, Ambassador of Spain to Korea.

news@theasian.asia