Minister of Foreign Affairs Cho Tae-yul (second from right) on Feb. 20 poses for a group photo at a meeting of foreign ministers from MIKTA member countries on the sidelines of the Group of 20's foreign ministers' talks in Johannesburg, South Africa. (Ministry of Foreign Affairs)

By Aisylu Akhmetzianova

Minister of Foreign Affairs Cho Tae-yul has presented his government's activity plan and key agenda given Korea's chairmanship this year of MIKTA, an informal middle-power group comprising Mexico, Indonesia, Korea, Turkey, and Australia, at the coalition's foreign ministers' talks in Johannesburg, South Africa.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Seoul on Feb. 20 said he discussed at the meeting MIKTA's cooperation in tackling global issues on the sidelines of the Group of 20's foreign ministers' summit in Johannesburg, South Africa.

MIKTA is a pan-regional consultative body launched in 2013 at the United Nations General Assembly. Korea on Feb. 20 replaced Mexico as the group's 12th chair for a term of one year.

"As geopolitical and armed conflicts escalate, we cannot forget the people suffering in the midst of these circumstances," Minister Cho said. "Over 300 million people worldwide urgently need humanitarian support."

"Military cooperation between Russia and North Korea has further worsened the situation in Ukraine, including the North's illegal arms support and troop deployment," he added, urging MIKTA member states to jointly urge Pyeongyang to cease these provocations and resume dialogue.

Attending the MIKTA talks were Mexican Undersecretary of Foreign Affairs Maria Teresa Mercado Perez, Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs Penny Wong, Turkish Minister of Foreign Affairs Hakan Fidan and Indonesian Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs Arrmanatha Christiawan Nasir.

The MIKTA ministers adopted a joint communique stressing their intent to take on international issues including the wars in Gaza and Ukraine and the situations in Syria and North Korea, as well as reaffirming their group's core principles such as the promotion of democracy, international law and multilateralism.

aisylu@korea.kr