Trade, Industry and Energy 1^st Vice Minister Jang Young-jin is visiting Hungary, Poland and Slovakia through April 17-20 as the head of an economic delegation to discuss measures for expanding trade and economic cooperation between Korea and the three Central European nations.

The economic delegation will hold business roundtables in Hungary and Poland to discuss bilateral investment and trade expansion measures with companies and interested parties, as well as EU trade policies. In Slovakia, the delegation will hold a luncheon conference with local Korean firms and visit the COAVIS plant.

Hungary, Poland and Slovakia have served as Korean firms’ gateway to the EU market, with numerous firms having local market presence across a wide range of industry sectors. Hungary and Poland are among Korea’s strategic partners, with continuously growing bilateral trade and local investment. As for Slovakia, many Korean firms are currently venturing into the local market, as the country is positioned right at the center of EU.

Vice Minister Jang is meeting with Hungarian Deputy Foreign Minister Levente Magyar and Economic Development Minister Márton Nagy on April 18 to discuss investment, trade, industrial technology cooperation and EU’s economic policy legislation situation.

The Trade Investment Promotion Framework (TIPF) agreement he will be signing with the Hungarian Deputy Foreign Minister will be Korea’s third of its kind, and first with a European country.

The Korea-Hungary TIPF will include 1) investment protection, 2) supply chain and green cooperation and 3) industrial, trade and energy policy cooperation, and is anticipated to act as a catalyst for bilateral economic cooperation.

On April 19-20 in Poland, Vice Minister Jang will be meeting with Deputy Foreign Minister Arkadiusz Mularczyk and Economic Development and Technology Minister Waldemar Buda to discuss trade, investment, industrial technology cooperation, Korea-Poland infrastructure and defense cooperation, EU steel safeguard measures and other EU trade issues.

In a subsequent meeting with the economic development and technology ministers of Hungary and Poland, the Vice Minister will discuss battery industry cooperation measures.

On April 21, Vice Minister Jang will meet with Slovak Economy Minister Karel Hirman and Deputy Foreign Minister Ingrid Brockova to discuss bilateral trade and investment, cooperation in automobiles, hydrogen and nuclear power plant decommissioning, and EU steel safeguard measures.

Moreover, he will request the Slovak government’s interest and support towards promptly terminating the steel safeguard measures to stabilize steel supply for Korean automobile firms in the local market and to enable the continuous growth of Slovakia’s automobile industry.