Yun attends ‘public checks and balances’ IPEF summit… Supply chain, clean economy, fair economy agreements reached…

President Yoon Seok-yeol is seen applauding with other world leaders at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) welcome reception held at the San Francisco Science Museum in the United States on the 15th (local time). [Yonhap]

[Herald Economy(San Francisco)= Jung Yoon-hee, Choi Eun-ji] President Yoon Seok-yeol, who is attending the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit, also attended the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) Summit held in San Francisco, United States, on the 16th (local time).

The IPEF, which is seen as a U.S.-led economic and trade cooperation organization to counter the China-led Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), has concluded agreements in three areas – supply chain, clean economy, and fair economy – in just one and a half years since its launch.

President Yoon attended the summit along with U.S. President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. This marks his second consecutive attendance following last year’s virtual meeting. The IPEF, launched in May last year through a summit meeting, has 14 participating countries including South Korea, the U.S., Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, and India, to jointly respond to newly emerging global trade issues such as supply chains and climate change.

The leaders of the participating countries highly evaluated the fact that they have reached agreements in three out of four areas (pillars) in a short period of time, following the supply chain agreement (Pillar 2) concluded last May, to the clean economy agreement (Pillar 3) and the fair economy agreement (Pillar 4). With the conclusion of the three agreements, a huge economic zone accounting for 40% of the world’s GDP and 28% of goods and service trade has been completed. The trade agreement (Pillar 1) will continue to be negotiated next year.

The participating leaders also agreed to establish the ‘Core Minerals Dialogue’ to build a stable core mineral supply chain and the ‘IPEF Network’ to activate human exchanges between the participating countries, so that the IPEF can function as a platform to respond to new issues.

In addition, the leaders agreed to expand cooperation in energy security and technology, hold a summit every two years, and hold a ministerial meeting every year, laying the groundwork for the IPEF to achieve continuous results. The IPEF countries agreed to operate a ministerial consultative body overseeing the entire IPEF to respond quickly and flexibly to emerging global issues in the future.

President Yoon Seok-yeol is taking a commemorative photo with the leaders of each country at the APEC Summit group photo shoot held at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, USA on the 16th (local time). From the right in the front row are President Yoon Seok-yeol, President Joko Widodo of Indonesia, President Gabriel Boric of Chile, King Hassanal Bolkiah of Brunei, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha of Thailand, President Joe Biden of the United States, President Pedro Castillo of Peru, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese of Australia, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada, President Xi Jinping of China, and Prime Minister Fumio Kishida of Japan. [Yonhap]

The supply chain agreement includes cooperation on diversifying the supply chain through technological cooperation, discovery of joint investment opportunities, matching between interested companies, and improvement of logistics infrastructure, etc., when a supply chain crisis is detected in the region and the crisis-affected country requests within 15 days. The ‘Crisis Response Network’, a high-level government consultative body, is activated to prepare alternative suppliers and procurement methods and identify bottlenecks in the supply chain. The supply chain agreement is expected to come into effect in the first half of next year.

The Clean Economy Agreement includes strengthening cooperation on technology, norms, and standards in all stages of energy production, including nuclear power, hydrogen, and renewable energy, as well as carbon reduction technology and carbon trading markets. The Fair Economy Agreement includes provisions to punish corruption and illegal activities and to enhance tax administrative transparency, which is expected to improve the trade and investment environment. The Clean Economy and Fair Economy Agreements are expected to come into effect next year after undergoing legal review and signing procedures.

The Presidential Office expected that the resilience of the supply chain in the Indo-Pacific region would be greatly enhanced through the achievements of this IPEF summit. The Presidential Office said, “We have agreed to stimulate $155 billion in new investments in the clean energy sector by 2030, which will open up great business opportunities for our companies,” and “With the prevention of illegal activities in government procurement and the enhancement of tax administrative efficiency, the stability and transparency of the business environment in the region will also increase, and the entry of our companies will become more active.”