Minister for Trade Dukgeun Ahn met with Jörg Kukies, Germany’s State Secretary for Economic, Finance and European Affairs at the Federal Chancellery, on May 22 at the Lotte Hotel Seoul to discuss measures to bolster Korea-Germany supply chain cooperation.

Germany is Korea’s largest European trading partner, with bilateral trade reaching historic highs in 2022 (USD 33.7 billion). The two countries’ economic and industrial supply chain cooperation is expected to deepen on the occasion of the 140th anniversary of the establishment of their diplomatic ties.

Trade Minister Ahn mentioned that the Korean government has introduced and is managing an early warning system (EWS) in response to supply chain crises, and the two sides agreed to further discuss Korea-Germany industrial supply chain cooperation.

In addition, the trade chief stated that the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), Foreign Subsidies Regulation (FSR), as well as the Critical Raw Materials Act and Green Deal Industrial Plan, should not discriminate or impose excessive burden on foreign companies and asked for Germany’s active cooperation.