Joint Press Release of the Third Meeting of Inter-Korean Working-level Consultations
ROK Ministry of Unification
2003-10-20
The South and the North held the Third Meeting of their Working-level Consultations on Economic Cooperation Systems in Munsan from October 11 to 12, 2003.
The two parties discussed practical matters concerning institutional guarantees for the promotion of economic cooperation between them in accordance with the fundamental spirit of the June 15, 2000 South-North Joint Declaration and agreed as follows;
1. The South and the North discussed the matters concerning the formation and operations of a commercial arbitration commission, pursuant to the Agreement on the Procedures to Resolve Inter-Korean Commercial Disputes and adopted the Agreement on the Formation and Operation of a Commercial Arbitration Commission.
2. The South and the North agreed to form and operate a working-level consultative body for the implementation of the Agreement on Certificate of Origin Procedures for Goods Being Traded Between the South and the North at the earliest possible date. Both sides agreed that the working-level consultative body would consist of three members headed by a director-general or director level official.
The South and the North had earlier agreed to conduct identifications of the origin of the goods normally traded in mid-November on a trial basis and to decide the time and place of the working-level consultative meeting at the Inter-Korean Economic Cooperation Committee meeting.
3. The South and the North agreed to continue consultations on the matters concerning the passage to and from Gaeseong and Mt. Geumgang areas. The two sides also agreed to have consultations on the credit ceiling for account clearance, item selection and interest rate for the implementation of the Agreement on Clearance of Accounts Between the South and the North and to hold working-level contacts between the respective account clearance banks to discuss specific procedures and methods.
4. Upon acknowledging that it is beneficial for the South and North to exchange copies of laws and regulations to smoothly proceed with the inter-Korean economic cooperation projects, the two parties agreed to exchange them at an appropriate time.
5. The South and North agreed to decide the venue and date of the fourth meeting of the Inter-Korean Working-level Consultations on Economic Cooperation Systems at the seventh meeting of the Inter-Korean Economic Cooperation Committee.
October 12, 2003
