South Korea, China, Japan joint declaration after first summit in four years

SEOUL (Reuters) - The leaders of South Korea, China and Japan on Monday issued a joint declaration covering cooperation in a range of areas from trade to climate change and ageing societies.

The statement was agreed after South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Chinese Premier Li Qiang held a three-way summit for the first time in more than four years.

Here are some of the main agreements from the declaration:

TRILATERAL COOPERATION

The countries will strive to hold the trilateral summit and ministerial meetings on a regular basis, and work to ensure that people in the three countries "can enjoy substantive benefits emanating from this cooperation". Japan will host the next summit.

PEOPLE-TO-PEOPLE EXCHANGES

They aim to boost the number of people-to-people exchanges to 40 million by 2030 through exchanges in culture, tourism and education.

CLIMATE CHANGE

The three recognised a need to work together in transitioning toward net zero greenhouse gas emissions and carbon neutrality. They pledged to take solid action and support efforts to achieve the Paris Agreement temperature goal.

CONSERVATION

They agreed to collaborate to reduce dust and sandstorms in East Asia. They will also promote marine conservation and work to complete an international legally binding instrument on plastic pollution, as well as curb illegal fishing.

ECONOMIC COOPERATION AND TRADE

The countries agreed to back discussions for speeding up negotiations for a trilateral Free Trade Agreement (FTA).

They reaffirmed support for an open, rules-based multilateral trading system with the World Trade Organization (WTO) at its core.

"We will continue to work to ensure a global level playing field to foster a free, open, fair, non-discriminatory, transparent, inclusive, and predictable trade and investment environment," they said.

The countries reaffirmed their commitment to keeping markets open and boosting supply chain cooperation.

HEALTH AND AGEING

The countries adopted a joint statement on preventing future pandemics. They also agreed to jointly tackle challenges over low birth rates and ageing societies through exchanges between the governments and experts.

REGIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL PEACE

They reaffirmed a common interest and responsibility to maintain peace, stability and prosperity on the Korean peninsula and in Northeast Asia. The countries reiterated positions on denuclearization of the Korean peninsula and the abductions issue.

Source: Joint Declaration of the Ninth South Korea-Japan-China Trilateral Summit

(Compiled by Ed Davies; Editing by Jan Harvey)