Trade, Industry and Energy Ministry’s Deputy Minister for Trade Negotiations Kim Jeong-hoi is heading the Korean delegation attending the first official round of negotiations of the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF) in Australia through December 10-15 to discuss supply chain, digital, clean energy and other new trade issues that are gaining in importance since the pandemic.
The delegation is composed of officials from the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE), Ministry of Economy and Finance (MOEF), Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) and other relevant ministries.
There are 14 IPEF member states: South Korea, the U.S., Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Vietnam, Brunei, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Fiji. These countries take up 41 percent and 32 percent of the entire global GDP and population, respectively.
This IPEF meeting is the first official round of negotiations following the ministerial meetings held in September, where negotiations were first launched. The ongoing working-level meetings in Brisbane will cover four main areas: trade, supply chain, clean economy and fair economy.
MOTIE has been preparing for negotiations by holding public-private working group meetings to gather interested parties’ opinions and reach consensuses among relevant ministries.
As G20, Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) and a number of other multilateral meetings slated for 2023 are to be hosted by IPEF member states, the negotiation process is expected to proceed swiftly.
MOTIE’s Deputy Minister for Trade Negotiations Kim Jeong-hoi assessed that “IPEF member countries consist of not only Korea’s major trading partners like ASEAN, U.S. and India, but also those that can contribute to supply chain stabilization and diversification of Korea’s core industries, such as semiconductors, batteries and critical minerals.”
Deputy Minister Kim added that the delegation will strive to preemptively respond to the newly forming trade order to “gain negotiation results by which Korea can strengthen industrial competitiveness and expand exports.”
Source: Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy