- Registration date2025-01-31
-
Attached file
Minister for Trade Inkyo Cheong of the Republic of Korea met with counterparts of various economies at the 2025 Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, for discussions on stronger cooperation. He also attended the session on trade and investment leadership and the informal World Trade Organization (WTO) trade ministerial meeting to share ways to foster a more stable and predictable trade environment.
First, Trade Minister Cheong held bilateral talks with counterparts of other major economies such as ASEAN, France, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), Japan, the Philippines, Saudi Arabia, and the UK regarding the changing global trade landscape and reaffirmed a shared understanding for maintaining cooperation within the global trade order. Moreover, he explained how Korea is operating stably in terms of its economy and national security despite recent political uncertainties and highlighted Korea’s aims to advance cooperation with each country on the margins of the upcoming 2025 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit.
With European Commissioner for Trade and Economic Security Maroš Šefčovič, Trade Minister Cheong discussed accelerating the Korea-EU Digital Trade Agreement (DTA) negotiations. Trade Minister Cheong also emphasized that the introduction of new labor and environmental regulations in EU should be carried out in a non-discriminatory manner. With Vice Minister for International Affairs Matsuo Takehiko at Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), the trade chief took stock of the forward-looking development of Korea-Japan relations and cooperation momentum affirmed during the bilateral high-level trade talks held last December and reviewed the two countries’ joint progress in supply chains and digital areas.
In his talks with ASEAN Secretary-General Kao Kim Hourn and the Philippines’ Secretary of Trade and Industry Cristina Aldeguer-Roque, Trade Minister Cheong discussed the ASEAN-ROK Think Tank Dialogue on Economic & Trade Policy (AKTD) on the occasion of the upcoming APEC trade ministerial meeting in May as well as key trade issues and measures for Korea-ASEAN trade expansion.
Through bilateral talks with UK’s Secretary of State for Business and Trade Jonathan Reynolds, New Zealand’s Deputy Secretary Trade and Economic Vangelis Vitalis, and GCC Secretary General Jasem Mohamed AlBudaiwi, Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Commerce and Investment Majid bin Abdullah Al-Kassabi, and Bahrain’s Minister of Industry and Commerce Abdulla bin Adel Fakhro, Trade Minister Cheong discussed Korea’s respective Free Trade Agreement (FTA) agendas with each economy and confirmed the importance of free bilateral trade. In addition, with Laurent Saint-Martin, France’s Minister Delegate for Foreign Trade and French Nationals Abroad, he exchanged views on electric vehicle (EV) subsidies and other agendas of mutual interest.
Following the bilateral talks, Korea’s trade minister took part in the session on trade and investment leadership on January 23, where various economies’ trade ministers and global CEOs engaged in in-depth discussions on future impact from the newly inaugurated U.S. administration’s trade policies, and urged the need for further dialogue in the international community.
During the informal WTO trade ministers’ meeting on January 24, the trade minister expressed Korea’s strong commitment to upholding an open and inclusive trade system as this year’s APEC chair and emphasized the need to reinforce the multilateral trade system amid the rise of protectionism, presenting key tasks concerning the WTO reform.
In his subsequent talks with WTO Director General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, he articulated the need for the WTO's reform in addressing newly emerging trade issues like climate change and artificial intelligence (AI), while prioritizing the task of incorporating the Investment Facilitation for Development (IFD) Agreement into the WTO rulebook and reforming the dispute settlement system over the one year remaining until the WTO's 14th Ministerial Conference slated for March 2026.