South Korean Finance Minister Lee Hyung-il met Bank of Korea Governor Shin Hyun-song, U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh and U.S. Deputy Treasury Secretary Francis Brooke on the sidelines of the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank, according to the Ministry of Finance and Economy (MOFE).
Erin Browne, the U.S. Treasury's undersecretary for international affairs, also attended the meeting.
The four officials exchanged views on recent economic developments and discussed ways to enhance economic and financial cooperation between the two countries.
Lee said the meeting was particularly significant as it marked the first time the finance ministries and central banks of South Korea and the United States had met together in such a format.
The “2+2” format brought together the finance ministry and central bank from each country, allowing fiscal, financial and monetary authorities to exchange views in the same bilateral setting.
Finance ministers and central bank governors routinely meet together at multilateral gatherings such as the Group of 20 finance ministers and central bank governors meetings, but Seoul said Friday's talks were the first bilateral Korea-U.S. meeting combining the two sets of authorities in this format.
The meeting did not constitute a joint policy-setting body. Monetary-policy decisions remain the responsibility of the two independent central banks, while finance ministries oversee fiscal policy and broader economic and financial cooperation.
Warsh and Shin have also had previous professional contact dating back to discussions surrounding the global financial crisis and have maintained academic exchanges in later years, although Friday's meeting was the first formally announced Korea-U.S. 2+2 involving the two countries' finance and monetary authorities.
Brooke, who became U.S. deputy treasury secretary earlier this year, is leading the Treasury Department's participation at the IMF-World Bank meetings alongside Browne after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent opted not to attend the Bangkok gathering.
The ministry did not disclose further details of the discussions or announce any specific agreements.
Copyright ⓒ Aju Press All rights reserved.