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On the 16th (local time), President Yoon Seok-yeol met with Chilean President Gabriel Boric and expressed his hope for a “key mineral partnership with Chile, the world’s largest lithium holder, as Korea is a powerhouse in secondary batteries.”
President Yoon held his first summit with Chilean President Gabriel Boric in San Francisco, United States, on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit.
The two leaders reaffirmed that Korea and Chile are key cooperating countries in Central and South America sharing universal values. They also agreed to strengthen cooperation in various fields, including △defense and security △key minerals such as lithium △trade and investment △infrastructure △operation and joint research of Antarctic bases.
According to the presidential office, Chile is a mineral-rich country with the world’s largest lithium reserves, a key material for secondary batteries. It ranks second after China as Korea’s lithium import source.
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President Yoon mentioned the establishment of the ‘Korea-Chile Antarctic Cooperation Center’ in the Chilean Antarctic Research Center in Punta Arenas, the hometown of President Boric, last February, and proposed to “expand cooperation in operating the Sejong Science Base in Antarctica and discovering joint research projects based on this center.”
President Yoon also requested President Boric’s support for the 2030 Busan World Expo.
President Boric said, “As Chile, we highly value our cooperation with Korea, the hub of the Asia-Pacific region,” and expressed hope that “the trade between the two countries will expand further with the successful conclusion of the negotiations to improve the Korea-Chile Free Trade Agreement (FTA), which marks its 20th anniversary this year.”
He added, “I expect to strengthen strategic cooperation between the two countries in the fields of supply chain cooperation for responding to global complex crises, energy and resources, and climate change.”
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