1. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, together with the Ministry of Justice and the National Court Administration, hosted the 3rd International Conference on Enforcing Contracts of Vietnam, Brunei and Saudi Arabia in Seoul on October 30.

2. The Republic of Korea, having been selected as the champion economy in the field of contract enforcement under the agreement reached at the APEC Summit in 2009, hosted the event in a bid to support efforts to improve procedures for enforcing contracts in the three aforementioned countries.

3. The event brought together some 130 people, including 40-odd government delegates from the countries concerned, relevant officials from the World Bank and some 50 Korean entrepreneurs and lawyers. The participants discussed ways for enforcing contracts in the countries concerned and examined the ROK’s advanced system, including e-filing system.

4. Over the past year, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Justice and the National Court Administration worked closely together in selecting assistance recipient countries, studying their relevant legal systems, conducting comparative analyses of those legal systems with that of the ROK and holding seminars in the countries concerned. In this light, the Conference carries particular significance as an opportunity to discuss the outcome of such efforts.

5. In his welcoming remarks, Second Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Cho Tae-yul stressed that the ROK, as the world’s second-ranking champion economy in the field of contract enforcement, has made vigorous efforts since 2011 to help APEC economies, including Indonesia, Peru, Thailand, the Philippines, Brunei and Vietnam, improve their business environment through reform in their legal systems.

° The Vice Minister, bringing attention to the fact that such efforts by the ROK led Indonesia to pursue the legislation of a civil procedure act, spoke of the ROK’s plan to continue such efforts, including sharing its experiences, to achieve shared growth with APEC economies.

6. The ROK government’s project to support efforts to improve relevant legal systems is expected to greatly help with Korean companies’ operations in such emerging markets as Vietnam, reaffirm the international standing of the ROK’s legal system and enhance the country’s global stature.

                 Spokesperson and Deputy Minister for Public Relations of MOFA

* unofficial translation