FM Çavuşoğlu visits Seoul for MIKTA meeting


Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu will attend the fifth MIKTA foreign ministerial meeting in Seoul on Thursday.

MIKTA is a cooperative association of five middle power countries of Mexico, Indonesia, Korea, Turkey and Australia launched by their foreign ministers on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly session in September 2013.

The purpose of the association is to proactively contribute to international efforts to resolve global challenges and regional issues.

South Korea is hosting the fifth foreign ministerial meeting as MIKTA chair, and Korean Minister of Foreign Affairs Yun Byung-se, will preside over the meeting in the capital Seoul on Thursday.

In the meetings the foreign ministers of the five MIKTA member countries are expected to discuss and adopt a document laying out MIKTA's identity and its future vision. In addition, on the occasion of the event, an official MIKTA website is also expected to be launched, enhancing the association's visibility.

During the meeting, the foreign ministers will also discuss the progress in ongoing cooperation projects as well as regional and global issues in an effort to produce tangible results.

Alongside the MIKTA meeting, Çavuşoğlu will be received by Yun, and will have bilateral meetings with the foreign ministers of other MIKTA countries.

MIKTA was launched as an informal platform of countries which are like-minded on many issues. It is comprised of important regional actors whose active contribution is essential for devising solutions to regional problems, the organization says. The five countries participating in the MIKTA platform are a diverse group; yet, they say that these countries share core values and face similar challenges.

"We are strategically located and strongly linked to our surrounding regions in all aspects. We all have dynamic economies with robust growth rates. We are likeminded on many of the principal challenges of the day and are active contributors in the main global fora. We all see ‘regional ownership' as key. These attributes provide a sound basis for our cooperation," the platform said in a statement last year.

The statement stressed that the MIKTA is based on a common interest in strengthening multilateralism, supporting global efforts for stability and prosperity, facilitating pragmatic and creative solutions to regional and global challenges and implementing the needed reforms in global governance structures.

"Our exchanges will be informal, flexible and issue-driven under MIKTA. Consultations intend to focus on issues on which we can provide added value. Furthermore, we have agreed to foster the institutional framework governing our relations in the political, economic and other cooperation fields. The MIKTA platform can fill an important gap in the international arena. We will remain engaged in taking forward this important initiative and advance a constructive role for it within the international community," the statement added.