President Lee Jae-myung, who is on a state visit to Brazil, held a summit with Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on the 27th (local time) and adopted a South Korea-Brazil joint statement.

Through the statement, the two leaders shared the view to further strengthen bilateral cooperation as strategic partners connecting Latin America and Asia to respond to complex global challenges, said Kang Yu-jung, senior presidential spokesperson, in a written briefing.

In particular, as uncertainties in the international trade environment grow, they shared the opinion that the trade agreement (TA) negotiations between South Korea and Mercosur serve as a core foundation for a new leap in bilateral economic cooperation, and agreed to join forces to advance it.

Specifically, they agreed to establish a South Korea-Brazil bilateral working group to announce the resumption of negotiations on the occasion of the 69th Mercosur Summit in December this year, spokesperson Kang said.

Mercosur is a South American customs union consisting of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay. It is considered South America's largest economic bloc and a strategic stronghold rich in key mineral resources such as lithium and nickel.

The two leaders also agreed to strengthen strategic coordination in the international community, and based on shared understanding on major global issues such as multilateralism and climate change response, to continue cooperation on multilateral stages including the United Nations and the Group of 20 (G20) Summit.

(Photo: Yonhap News)