1. Minister of Foreign Affairs Kang, Kyung-wha, together with Minister of Economy and Planning of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Mohamed Al-Twaijri, will hold the 19^th meeting of the Republic of Korea (ROK)-Saudi Arabia Joint Committee in Riyadh on December 18 and discuss ways for bilateral substantive cooperation in 15 areas, including political affairs, economy and culture.

2. During the forthcoming Joint Committee meeting, the two sides will review the progress in the follow-up on the deliverables agreed upon by the two countries during the official visit to the ROK by His Royal Highness Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman in June 2019 and discuss in detail major cooperation projects underway between the two countries.

3. The upcoming Joint Committee meeting is expected to serve as a good opportunity to review the progress in cooperation with Saudi Arabia, the ROK’s core cooperative partner in the Middle East, across the board, including foreign affairs and national defense, economy, and culture, and to discuss ways to build cooperative relations for sustainable coexistence.

° In particular, amid a series of high-level exchanges, including the visit to the ROK by the Saudi Crown Prince in June, the visits to Saudi Arabia by the ROK Minister of National Defense in November and the ROK Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport in December, and the visit to the ROK by Saudi Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Adel Al-Jubeir in December, the Joint Committee meeting is expected to be one for comprehensively reviewing the progress in bilateral cooperation in 2019 and presenting a cooperation direction for 2020.