Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy

Korea-U.S. Advanced Industry and Technology Cooperation Forum 2024

Trade, Industry and Energy Minister Dukgeun Ahn attended the Korea-U.S. Advanced Industry and Technology Cooperation Forum 2024 on June 27 in Washington D.C. with U.S. Deputy Secretary Don Graves, Johns Hopkins University Vice Provost for Research Denis Wirtz, among 150 attendees composed of academia, industry, and research experts for the designation of top U.S. universities as Korea-U.S. Global Industrial Technology Cooperation Centers. date2024-06-28

Trade Minister speaks at decennial anniversary ceremony of Ewha-Syensqo R&I Center

Minister for Trade Inkyo Cheong gave a congratulatory message at the decennial anniversary ceremony of Ewha-Syensqo Research & Innovation (R&I) Center on June 27 in Seoul in commemoration of the 10-year academia and industry cooperation between Ewha Womans University and leading global materials company Syensqo.   The ceremony was attended by Syensqo CEO Ilham Kadri and Ewha Womans University President Kim Eun-mi, as well as representatives from embassies of various countries to Korea. date2024-06-28

Korea-U.S.-Japan Business Dialogue

Trade, Industry and Energy Minister Dukgeun Ahn attended the Korea-U.S.-Japan Business Dialogue on June 26 in Washington D.C. and gave a keynote speech to the 50 attendees, including U.S. Deputy Secretary of Commerce Don Graves, Japan’s Economy, Trade, and Industry Minister Saito Ken and other representatives of related associations and major companies. date2024-06-28

Joint Statement on Japan-Republic of Korea-United States Commerce and Industry Ministerial Meeting

Joint Statement Japan-Republic of Korea-United States Commerce and Industry Ministerial Meeting June 26, 2024 – Washington, D.C.     We, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo; Japanese Minister of Economy, Trade, and Industry Saito Ken; and Republic of Korea (ROK) Minister of Trade, Industry, and Energy Ahn Duk-geun met in Washington today for the inaugural meeting of Commerce and Industry Ministers. United by the vision established by our three leaders at their historic Trilateral Summit at Camp David on August 18, 2023, we resolve to focus our joint efforts on a set of strategic areas designed to enhance the security and prosperity of our people and the Indo-Pacific region.   Our shared intent is to leverage this trilateral mechanism to promote the development of critical and emerging technologies and strengthen the security and resiliency of our economies. Recognizing these two goals are intertwined, we aim to prioritize cooperation to strengthen the resilience of supply chains in key sectors, including semiconductors and batteries; and to promote the Principles on Resilient and Reliable Supply Chains, namely, transparency, diversification, security, sustainability, and trustworthiness and reliability. Together, we seek to deepen our coordination of export controls on advanced technologies; enhance private sector partnerships for collaborative research and innovation related to advanced industrial technologies; advance efforts to develop international standards and ensure safe, secure, and trustworthy use of artificial intelligence (AI); expand collaboration on critical and emerging technologies and on critical minerals; work together to strengthen economic security; and support long-term economic cooperation among the partners to support operationalizing the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF).   As part of these efforts, there is an urgency to our three sides working closely together to identify potential supply chain vulnerabilities for strategic goods that have resulted from a wide range of non-market policies and practices. We share concerns over the weaponization of economic dependencies on certain supply sources for strategic goods. To address the resulting, systemic vulnerabilities stemming from such dependencies, we intend to promote a level playing field through more closely coordinated efforts – including working together, and with other partners, on relevant criteria that take into account not only economic factors, but also factors linked to the Principles on Resilient and Reliable Supply Chains.   Semiconductors: We reaffirm our recognition of the essential role that semiconductors play in a wide range of industries and applications important to the growth of our economies and preservation of our national security. We note our shared interest in building resilient semiconductor supply chains and aim to accelerate cooperation to achieve this goal.   Clean Energy: Recognizing the need to reduce the carbon intensity and overall greenhouse gas emissions of our respective economies, we reaffirm the importance of trilateral cooperation to strengthen global battery supply chains. In addition, we concur that clean/zero emission and low-carbon hydrogen and its derivatives, such as clean ammonia, will play an essential role in the decarbonization of a wide variety of sectors. Towards that end, we intend to cooperate to promote the development of secure and resilient global supply chains for clean/zero emission and low-carbon hydrogen and its derivatives, including the consideration of their carbon intensity, and to explore how the three ministries that we lead can enhance cooperation on low- and/or carbon-free energy emissions technologies, including clean/zero emission and low-carbon hydrogen and its derivatives.   Critical Minerals: We further reaffirm the importance of increasing the availa date2024-06-27

Ewha Womans University and Syensqo celebrate 10 years of industry-academia cooperation

Minister for Trade Inkyo Cheong attended the decennial anniversary ceremony of Ewha-Syensqo Research & Innovation (R&I) Center on June 27 in Seoul in commemoration of the 10-year academia and industry cooperation between Ewha Womans University and leading global materials company Syensqo.   Formerly known as Solvay, Syensqo established the Rhodia Silica Korea in Incheon in 1975 and the specialty chemicals business headquarters in Korea in 2011, followed by its global R&I Center at Ewha Womans University in 2014.   The Ewha-Syensqo R&I Center is a successful case of foreign direct investment (FDI) attraction based on trilateral cooperation among the Government, university, and businesses, which contributes to creating quality jobs in automobile and electronics related industries through R&D in battery and green hydrogen, ultimately building up Korea’s future industrial competitiveness.   At the ceremony, Ewha Womans University and Syensqo sealed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on the pledged support of over KRW 5 billion in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) areas, and held a symposium for both looking back on the outcomes from the past and looking forward to those of another coming decade. Syensqo has thus far invested over ₩6.6 billion in research and scholarship funding.   In his congratulatory message, Trade Minister Cheong said that the Korean government has newly launched an R&D project exclusively for foreign-invested firms in order to better support global companies’ R&D investments, and that the project will be further expanded to allow more foreign-invested firms to participate in the advanced industrial technology innovations in Korea. date2024-06-27

Korea-U.S.-Japan industry ministers’ meeting

Trade, Industry and Energy Minister Dukgeun Ahn attended the inaugural Korea-U.S.-Japan industry ministers’ meeting with U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo and Japanese Minister of Economy, Trade, and Industry Saito Ken on June 26 in Washington D.C. and discussed measures for accelerating the development of critical and emerging technologies and bolstering the three countries’ economic security as part of implementing the agreed outcomes of the trilateral summit at Camp David in August 2023. date2024-06-27

Minister Ahn receives investment declarations from U.S. companies

Trade, Industry and Energy Minister Dukgeun Ahn received the investment declarations from U.S. companies Corning and Pacifico Energy on June 26 in Washington D.C. on the margins of the first Korea-U.S.-Japan industry ministers’ meeting. date2024-06-27

Minister Ahn meets Japanese Minister of Economy, Trade, and Industry

Trade, Industry and Energy Minister Dukgeun Ahn met Japanese Minister of Economy, Trade, and Industry Saito Ken on June 26 in Washington D.C. on the margins of the Korea-U.S.-Japan trilateral industry ministers’ meeting and discussed measures for implementation of agreed outcomes of the Korea-Japan summit held this May. date2024-06-27

Minister Ahn speaks at Korea-U.S. Clean Energy Forum

Trade, Industry and Energy Minister Dukgeun Ahn is speaking at the Korea-U.S. Clean Energy Forum on June 25 in Washington D.C., which was attended by U.S. Deputy Secretary of Energy David Turk and representatives of related institutions and energy companies. date2024-06-27

Trade Minister meets ambassadors to Korea from Pakistan, Bangladesh, Serbia, and Dominican Republic

Minister for Trade Inkyo Cheong met the ambassadors to Korea from Pakistan, Bangladesh, Serbia, and the Dominican Republic on June 26 in Seoul to discuss measures for bilateral Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA). date2024-06-27