Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy

Trade Minister meets President of the Business Council of Canada

Minister for Trade Inkyo Cheong met with Goldy Hyder, President of the Business Council of Canada, on April 22 in Seoul and discussed measures for stronger bilateral economic and trade cooperation. date2024-04-23

Minister Ahn holds export promotion meeting with Korean firms in Japan

Minister Dukgeun Ahn chaired a meeting on April 22 in Tokyo with Korean companies operating in the local Japanese market in various areas, including semiconductors, electrical and electronics, steel, chemicals, aviation, power generation, and agricultural food products, and discussed measures for promoting exports.   Attending the meeting were representatives of companies like Korean Air, POSCO, Hyundai Motor and related associations like the Korea International Trade Association (KITA) and K-SURE. date2024-04-23

Minister Ahn meets with Tokyo Electron CEO

Minister Dukgeun Ahn visited Tokyo Electron Ltd. on April 22 in Tokyo and held talks with its CEO Toshiki Kawai. date2024-04-23

Minister Ahn receives investment pledge from Japan’s Toray Industries

Trade, Industry and Energy Minister Dukgeun Ahn received an investment declaration from Japan’s Toray Industries Vice President on the establishment of an additional plant for producing aramid fibers in Korea on April 22 in Tokyo. date2024-04-23

Korea and Japan hold bilateral trade and industry ministerial talks

Trade, Industry and Energy Minister Dukgeun Ahn visited Tokyo on April 22 and met with Saitō Ken, Japan’s Economy, Trade and Industry Minister, in commemoration of the one-year anniversary of the Korea-Japan Summit held March 2023 and “shuttle diplomacy.”   The ministers discussed follow-up measures to bilateral summit agenda items in industry, trade, and energy, as well as forward-looking cooperation. A first since 2018, the official talks were held as an extension of the two countries’ recently strengthening bilateral relations and mutual visits.   Both sides highly assessed the fact that the collaboration between Korean and Japanese companies is kicking into high gear on the backs of the bilateral summit diplomacy and decided to continue promoting the cooperation between their governments and business communities, while giving mutual support to investment companies by installing a regular communication channel between Korea’s MOTIE and the Seoul-Japan Club (SJC), and between Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) and the Korea Business Association (KOBA).   Moreover, the two sides shared the view that wider cooperation is needed in decarbonization and new energy areas for achieving carbon neutrality goals by 2050, agreeing to cooperate through the Carbon Free Energy (CFE) Initiative. In this regard, a director-level climate policy cooperation working group will be established for global clean technology and product evaluation and global carbon regulatory response.   The ministers agreed to push forward cooperation in clean hydrogen and ammonia and to discuss detailed measures through the director general-level Korea-Japan hydrogen cooperation dialogue in the future. In addition, they concurred that supply chain stabilization is a pending challenge for both countries and agreed to install a dialogue channel for information exchange.   Furthermore, both sides noted the importance of economic and trade cooperation among Korea, Japan, and China, on which Japan expressed support for Korea’s successful hosting of the 13th Korea-Japan-China economy and trade ministers’ meeting this year. The two countries will also further coordination on the Korea-U.S.-Japan trilateral meeting among their industry and commerce leaders.   Lastly, the trade and industry chiefs agreed to make joint efforts on issues concerning the World Trade Organization (WTO) reform, including the WTO dispute settlement system, investment facilitation for development, and e-commerce moratorium negotiations. date2024-04-23

Minister Ahn meets Toray Industries CEO

Trade, Industry and Energy Minister Dukgeun Ahn met Akihiro Nikkaku, President and CEO of Toray Industries, on April 19 in Seoul and discussed high-performance carbon fibers and materials production facility investment. date2024-04-22

Deputy Trade Minister visits Washington D.C. to discuss trade issues and bilateral cooperation

Deputy Minister for Trade Yang Byeong-nae visited Washington D.C. from April 15-17 and met with key figures in the Biden administration and Congress members to discuss major trade issues and forward-looking measures for advancing bilateral cooperation. On April 16, he attended the Korea Inter-parliamentary Exchange Center (KIPEC) opening ceremony at the Korea international Trade Association (KITA) Washington Center.   Deputy Trade Minister Yang held talks with the U.S. Department of Commerce and the U.S. Trade Representative regarding the Korea-U.S.-Japan industry ministers’ meeting slated for the first half of this year, as well as the major agenda items of the Korea-U.S. Supply Chain and Commercial Dialogue (SCCD). He also shared Korean companies’ export issues, including those related to trade remedies, and discussed the CHIPS Act and Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) incentives.   He also attended the KIPEC opening ceremony with a number of Korean lawmakers, meeting with key U.S. Congress members and discussed Korean firms’ investment in the U.S., flexibility in applying the IRA’s critical minerals requirement, additional CHIPS Act subsidies, and visa issues. date2024-04-18

Trade Minister holds "New Trade Roundtable"

Minister for Trade Inkyo Cheong chaired the first “New Trade Roundtable” at the Government Complex Sejong to assess the supply chain trade strategy on April 17, the day the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF) Supply Chain Agreement entered into force in Korea.   Trade Minister Cheong addressed the need for a supply chain trade policy that supports industrial supply chain policies and said that the ministry plans to establish measures on utilizing the IPEF Supply Chain Agreement in this respect. He also asked companies for specific suggestions on IPEF utilization measures.   Representatives from related associations, academia, and research institutions, including the Korea International Trade Association (KITA) and Korea Semiconductor Industry Association (KSIA), attended the meeting to participate in discussions for supply chain stability and diversification utilizing the IPEF Agreement. date2024-04-17

Korea seeking to bolster supply chain for critical items utilizing IPEF Agreement

Minister for Trade Inkyo Cheong is holding the first “New Trade Roundtable” at the Government Complex Sejong to assess the supply chain trade strategy on April 17, the day the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF) Supply Chain Agreement entered into force in Korea. Representatives from related associations, academia, and research institutions are attending the meeting to participate in discussions for supply chain stability and diversification utilizing the IPEF Agreement.   Attendees examine the prospects of pushing joint projects with IPEF partner countries on import channel diversification, R&D, and logistics improvement concerning urea, graphite, rare-earth magnets, and other items included under the eight supply chain anchor projects MOTIE announced in March. Further negotiations will be held should it become necessary that the above items are handled in joint projects in implementing the IPEF Agreement. date2024-04-17

Minister Ahn attends BOOM-UP Korea 2024

Trade, Industry and Energy Minister Dukgeun Ahn attended the BOOM-UP Korea 2024 opening ceremony on April 15 at COEX in Seoul with SMEs and Startups Minister Oh Youngju and attended the export contract MOU signing ceremony.   The event was attended by representatives of 3,000 Korean exporting companies, 560 global buyers from around 60 countries, as well as government officials and related institutions. date2024-04-16