Dukgeun Ahn, Minister for Trade, presided the 30th Trade Promotion Committee on November 2 at the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) and spoke in his opening message on Korea’s progress in climate change response and industrial competitiveness with respect to legal and systemic enforcement.
He emphasized that it is crucial for the Government and companies to take utmost care in responding to other countries’ policies so they do not end up facing limitations or discriminatory treatment in investments and trade.
Moreover, with respect to the U.S.’ Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), he stated that efforts will continue to negotiate with the U.S. government and Congress members and also join with other major countries in similar position. EU’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) will also be monitored to prevent injury of domestic firms.
The trade chief explained that “through trade cooperation with China and the ASEAN countries, Korean companies will be assisted in seeking out new investment opportunities and any business issues and difficulties will be resolved in tandem with relevant ministries.”
Three key agendas were addressed during the meeting.
One, the EU CBAM legislation situation and future countermeasures were discussed. Minister Ahn stressed the importance of thorough preparation with relevant industries in trilateral negotiations among the Council of the European Union, European Commission and the European Parliament amid possibilities of settling a final agreement within this year.
To this end, various channels of the two governments will be utilized to communicate on enforcement laws and obligations during the transitional phase. Meanwhile, industries’ response capacity for measurement, reporting and testing of carbon emissions will also be supported.
Two, against the backdrop of rapidly changing global trade environment, discussions covered measures to maintain and advance Korea-China relations, as well as ways to invigorate the trade and investment communication channels.
Along with the Korea-China Trade Ministerial talks and Joint Commission for Korea-China FTA to review FTA implementation, the Ministry aims to foster predictable investment conditions and strengthen mutual investment stimuli by restarting the Korea-China Investment Cooperation Committee launched in 2001. It will also be a platform for carbon neutral, digital transformation and discussing new trade agenda items.
Three, the follow-up progress on ASEAN Economy Ministerial talks was assessed. In particular, the joint R&D on Korea-ASEAN Industry and Energy International Development Cooperation Project Vision proposed by Minister Ahn is now undergoing working-level negotiations, and future plans will be announced in December.
Following bilateral talks with the Philippines that took place on occasion of the above, the Korea-Philippines Economy and Trade Cooperation Committee was launched in October to negotiate joint measures for raw materials supply chain and energy cooperation. Accomplishments will be dealt with in-depth in the coming ASEAN summit meeting and bilateral state visits.
Subsequent to the Trade Promotion Committee meeting, Minister Ahn presided the pan-ministerial 4th IRA Countermeasures TF in the participation of other relevant ministries like the Ministry of Economy and Finance, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Office for Government Policy Coordination.
The U.S. Department of Treasury (DoT) is currently gathering opinions (Oct. 5 – Nov. 4) for the establishment of sub-regulations regarding clean energy incentives, to which the Korean government is preparing to relay a firm response statement.
The Government has proceeded to hold joint public-private TF meetings and legal and trade experts’ conferences across cars, batteries, materials, energy and steel to prepare the aforesaid statement, and will submit a statement within a given period after discussions with relevant ministries.
Source: Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy