Energy, Science and Technology, Women, and Other Global Issue Cooperation
No Specific Discussion on the 'Anti-China Economic Bloc' EPN
[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] The 5th Korea-US High-Level Economic Consultation (SED), attended by Lee Tae-ho, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Keith Krach, US Under Secretary of State for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment, was held for 2 hours and 40 minutes on the 14th at the Seoul Ministry of Foreign Affairs building via video conference.
Despite being held via video conference, the US side sent a large delegation of about 40 representatives from various agencies including the State Department, Treasury Department, Department of Health and Human Services, USAID, and the Development Finance Corporation (DFC), such as Virginia Palmer, Ambassador for Energy Resources, and Matt Napper, Deputy Assistant Secretary for East Asia and the Pacific at the State Department.
On the Korean side, about 30 representatives attended, including Yang Dong-han, Director General of the Bilateral Economic Diplomacy Bureau at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Jeong Eui-hye, ASEAN Division Counselor, officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Embassy in the US, Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, Ministry of Economy and Finance, Ministry of Science and ICT, Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), Export-Import Bank of Korea, and Korea Infrastructure Finance Corporation for Overseas Development (KIND).
At this consultation, the chief representatives from both sides evaluated that Korea and the US have closely cooperated based on a strong economic partnership during the COVID-19 response process, and agreed that enhancing the Korea-US economic cooperation partnership is essential for the recovery of the global economy, which has been stagnant after the COVID-19 pandemic.
In particular, both sides assessed that cooperation such as maintaining air routes between the two countries during the COVID-19 response, participation in phone consultations among deputy foreign ministers of seven countries in the region, and support through diagnostic kits and masks became exemplary cases of Korea-US cooperative partnership. They also exchanged views on the need to enhance the resilience of global supply chains in response to concerns about the post-COVID-19 global economic downturn.
Both sides reviewed the results of previous discussions aimed at exploring science, technology, and energy cooperation between Korea and the US and exchanged opinions on continuous cooperation measures. Regarding science and technology cooperation, both sides agreed to continue negotiations on the extension of the Korea-US Science and Technology Cooperation Agreement. Regarding energy cooperation, to maintain the momentum from the 7th Korea-US Energy Security Dialogue and the 1.5-track Korea-US Energy Video Conference held in August, they decided to hold the 2021 Korea-US Energy Policy Dialogue.
They also exchanged views on expanding linked cooperation between Korea’s New Southern Policy and the US Indo-Pacific Strategy, as well as on global issues such as women’s economic empowerment, ICT, and emerging technologies. Both sides evaluated progress in practical cooperation linking Korea’s New Southern Policy and the US Indo-Pacific Strategy in areas such as development, infrastructure, energy, and resources, and agreed to continue cooperation to discover new cooperative projects in related fields.
Furthermore, regarding women’s economic empowerment, both sides evaluated the two roundtables held in December last year and September this year to implement the action plan on women’s economic empowerment adopted at the 4th SED. Based on these consultations, they agreed to actively promote specific cooperative projects such as human exchanges in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) fields and the establishment of a permanent networking forum among businesspeople. They also discussed the possibility of cooperation in new fields such as artificial intelligence and quantum computing and exchanged views on issues such as economic security. It was reported that there were no specific discussions on the Economic Prosperity Network (EPN), which was one of the interests of this consultation.
Meanwhile, the chief representatives from both sides agreed to continuously discover new economic cooperation agendas and seek new development directions through various policy proposals from the private sector at the 4th Korea-US Public-Private Joint Economic Forum scheduled to be held in Washington DC on October 22, focusing on linked cooperation between the New Southern Policy and the Indo-Pacific Strategy and Korea-US cooperation in innovation sectors in the post-COVID-19 era. They also decided to hold the 6th SED and the 5th Korea-US Public-Private Joint Economic Forum in Korea in 2021.
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