South Korea and four other middle powers held a senior officials' meeting in Seoul on Friday in the run-up to a meeting of the countries' foreign ministers slated for late May, Seoul's foreign ministry said.
  

The so-called MIKTA is an informal cooperative body that was created by Mexico, Indonesia, the Republic of Korea, Turkey and Australia in September 2013 in a bid to enhance coordination on global issues of common interest.
  

The five countries held their first deputy foreign minister-level meeting in a symbolic step to show that MIKTA is evolving as a core cooperative body, the ministry said. A foreign ministers' meeting is slated for late May, but the specific date has not been decided.
  

"The SOM will play a pivotal role as an incubator for concrete actions and ideas on ways to enhance the solidarity within MIKTA and address global issues," South Korean Deputy Foreign Minister for Political Affairs Lee Kyung-soo said at the start of the meeting.
  

"This will no doubt contribute to increasing MIKTA's utility, visibility and versatility."
  

South Korea assumed the one-year role of coordinator last September from Mexico.
  

The three-session meeting dealt with how to promote cooperation, including the creation of a MIKTA website and the establishment of guidelines for activities, the ministry said.
  

Also on the discussion table were how to build networks for specific cooperative projects and details about the planned foreign ministers' meeting, it added.
  

The five MIKTA nations' gross domestic products rank between the world's 12th largest and the 17th largest.
  

The MIKTA countries have different historical and cultural backgrounds, along with geographical locations, but their shared common values, such as democracy and open economies, can contribute to the global public good, according to the foreign ministry.
  

"MIKTA has rapidly established itself as a new good-will global governance gathering, promoting the values of democracy and liberalism," Lee said.
  

But after its smooth creation, MIKTA now stands at a critical juncture in setting its clear direction for development, given that there are many groupings of countries on the global setting.
  

"Considering that MIKTA is a unique group consisting of countries that hold both similarities and differences, achieving the highest level of cooperation between the member states is another important challenge," Lee added.
  

MIKTA has spoken out with a united voice over global agenda, such as safety for civilian aircraft and opposition against North Korea's nuclear program.
  

It has held foreign ministers' meetings four times and released joint statements three times so far.
  

In November, the top diplomats from MIKTA discussed how to cope with terrorism and the Ebola outbreak, as well as how to address sexual violence against women during conflicts, at their fourth round of meetings held on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Australia, according to the foreign ministry. (Yonhap)