Moon discusses Korea's Covid fight with APEC leaders

President Moon Jae-in on Friday participates from the Blue House during a virtual summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation. [YONHAP]

President Moon Jae-in participated in a virtual summit with the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) countries Friday night, discussing Korea’s experience and strategy in fighting the Covid-19 pandemic.

The APEC group currently has 21 member countries. U.S. President Donald Trump, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga joined the virtual summit.

Moon highlighted Korea's cooperation with international organizations, noting that the country has offered humanitarian aid worth over $100 million. Moon also promised further contributions to the global community to end the pandemic.

The Korean president urged the APEC leaders to speed up their discussions to resume travel of essential personnel. Moon has sought to create a system to restore the ability of businessmen to travel, particularly within the APEC region.

Aiming to boost a multilateral trade regime, APEC first started ministerial meetings in 1989 with 12 countries. In 1993, the group started holding an annual summit of state leaders. Malaysia is the rotating chair for this year.

At the summit, participating leaders discussed various economic cooperation measures to fight the pandemic, along with trade and investment.

BY SER MYO-JA [ser.myoja@joongang.co.kr]