Minister of the Interior and Safety Yoon Ho-jung will visit New York, United States, from tomorrow (the 24th) through the 26th to attend the High-Level Meeting on the Social and Solidarity Economy held on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, and sign Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs) on cooperation in related fields with Spain and Senegal, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety announced.

The meeting, held on the occasion of the UN General Assembly High-Level Week, will be attended by 14 countries, including member states of the Group of Friends of the Social and Solidarity Economy.

The Group of Friends is a voluntary organization formed by UN member states in June 2026 to discuss the social and solidarity economy, with 23 countries, including co-chairs Brazil and Senegal, currently joined.

During the meeting, the Secretary-General's report on the implementation of UN General Assembly Resolution 79/213 (Promoting the Social and Solidarity Economy for Sustainable Development), adopted in April 2024, will be presented, and discussions will be held toward the adoption of a third UN General Assembly resolution on the social and solidarity economy in 2027.

South Korea is a founding member of the Group of Friends of the Social and Solidarity Economy.

At the meeting, South Korea will share its institutional and policy achievements, such as the enactment of the Framework Act on Social and Solidarity Economy and the establishment of comprehensive plans, while discussing ways to vitalize international cooperation in the social and solidarity economy sector.

Following the high-level meeting, Minister Yoon will hold a bilateral meeting with Yolanda Diaz Perez, Spain's Second Vice-President and Minister of Labor and Social Economy, and sign a bilateral MOU on cooperation in the social and solidarity economy.

The agreement encompasses eight areas of cooperation, including ▲ improvement of laws and systems, ▲ policy development and joint research, ▲ development of social value measurement and indicators, and ▲ social and solidarity finance.

Spain enacted the Social Economy Act in 2011, becoming the first European country to comprehensively cover the social and solidarity economy, raising expectations for broad mutual exchanges at the institutional level, the interior ministry noted.

Minister Yoon will also meet with Alioune Dione, Senegal's Minister of Microfinance and Social and Solidarity Economy, a co-chair country of the Group of Friends, to sign an MOU on social and solidarity economy cooperation.

During his visit to the United States, Minister Yoon is scheduled to meet with Li Junhua, UN Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs (DESA), to discuss ways to expand their ongoing cooperation in public administration and digital government into the social and solidarity economy sector.

He will also meet with Abraham Kim, president of the Korea Society—which has worked to promote Korea-U.S. exchanges since its founding in 1957—to exchange views on ways to expand exchanges between private organizations.

Minister Yoon expressed expectations that "this visit will serve as an opportunity to share institutional achievements, such as the enactment of the Framework Act on Social and Solidarity Economy and the establishment of comprehensive plans, with the international community, and to further vitalize international exchanges for the promotion of the social and solidarity economy."

(Photo courtesy of the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, Yonhap News)