President Yoon Seok-yeol attended the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) Summit on the occasion of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit on the 16th (local time) to discuss ways to restore the regional supply chain, including core mineral supply.
President Yoon held the IPEF Summit with 14 participating country leaders, including President Joe Biden of the United States and Prime Minister Fumio Kishida of Japan, in San Francisco, USA, in the afternoon of the same day. President Yoon previously attended the inaugural IPEF Summit held in Tokyo, Japan on May 23, last year, through video conference.
IPEF is an economic and trade cooperation body created by 14 major countries in the Indo-Pacific region, including South Korea, the United States, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia, India, and Fiji, to jointly respond to complex crises such as supply chains and climate change. It accounts for 40% of the global GDP and 28% of global goods and services trade. It also has a character to respond to the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) led by China.
This meeting was held to review the results of the seven rounds of negotiations conducted over the past year and a half since its inception in May last year and to discuss specific cooperation plans for the future. The leaders of each country highly evaluated the fact that they reached agreements on three out of the four pillars (areas), including the Supply Chain Agreement (Pillar 2), the Clean Economy Agreement (Pillar 3), and the Fair Economy Agreement (Pillar 4), in a short period of time following the Trade Agreement (Pillar 1). They decided to continue negotiations on the Trade Agreement.
The upcoming Supply Chain Agreement, which is scheduled to take effect next year, includes provisions for the Crisis Response Network, a high-level intergovernmental consultative body, to be activated within 15 days at the request of the crisis-stricken country to establish alternative supply sources and procurement methods. The Clean Economy Agreement aims to strengthen cooperation in the production process of all clean energy sources, carbon reduction technologies, and trading markets, and the Fair Economy Agreement includes provisions for combating illegal activities and improving tax administration efficiency.
The leaders of each country also agreed to establish a “Mineral Dialogue Body” for the stable construction of a core mineral supply chain and an “IPEF Network” to promote personnel exchanges between participating countries, in order for IPEF to function as a platform to respond to new issues. In addition, while expanding energy security and technology-related cooperation, the Summit established a foundation for IPEF to achieve continuous results by holding biennial and ministerial-level meetings every year.
The Presidential Office stated, “It is expected that the resilience of the supply chain in the Indo-Pacific region will significantly increase through this Summit and the conclusion of negotiations.” They added, “By agreeing to promote $155 billion in new investments in the clean energy sector by 2030, it not only opens up great business opportunities for our companies but also increases the stability and transparency of the business environment in the region through the prevention of illegal activities and the improvement of tax administration efficiency, leading to more active business expansion by our companies.”
Reported by Ki-min Lee, victor.lee@asiae.co.kr.
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