South Korea's parliamentary speaker is set to meet with his counterparts from Australia and two other countries on Wednesday ahead of a formal conference meant to discuss ways to boost cooperation in tackling global challenges.
  

The meeting would be the first of its kind since 2013, when South Korea, Mexico, Indonesia, Turkey, and Australia launched a cross-regional group, known as "MIKTA," from the initials of their English names.
  

But Turkey did not send its delegation to the meeting as Turkey has yet to pick a new parliamentary speaker following recent elections.
  

The five are members of the G-20, the group of 20 major economies, but they do not belong to G-7 or BRICs, two other groupings of major and emerging global economies.
  

South Korea sees MIKTA as a middle-power cooperation model to play a bridging role between developed and developing nations in addressing global challenges.
  

On Wednesday, National Assembly Speaker Chung Ui-hwa was to hold two separate bilateral meetings with his Indonesian counterpart, Irman Gusman, and his Australian counterpart, Stephen Parry.
  

A formal conference is set to open Thursday to discuss the parliaments' role in addressing global challenges.
  

Chung also plans to meet with his Mexican counterpart, Miguel Barbosa Huerta, on Friday. The meeting is set to end on Sunday. (Yonhap)