Sangui-Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy to Hold 2nd Economic and Trade Forum Meeting on 25th ... Discussing Energy Industry Cooperation between Korea and Eastern European Countries
[Asia Economy Reporter Hwang Yoon-joo] The Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI), in collaboration with the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, held the "2nd Korea-Visegrad Group (V4) Economic and Trade Forum" on the 25th to discuss cooperation measures on carbon neutrality (Net-zero) such as renewable energy and eco-friendly vehicles between Eastern Europe and Korean companies.
The Korea-Eastern Europe Economic and Trade Forum was launched in October 2020 to support the entry of Korean companies into Eastern Europe, a key production base in Europe, and to explore ways to enhance cooperation between the two regions.
On this day, from the Korean side, Woo Tae-hee, Executive Vice Chairman of KCCI, Yoo Myung-hee, Director-General for Trade Negotiations at the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, Moon Jae-do, Chairman of the Hydrogen Convergence Alliance Promotion Group, Professor Park Sang-chul of Korea Polytechnic University, Professor Seo Dae-sung of Sungkyul University, and companies operating in Eastern Europe attended.
From the V4 countries, Piotr Ostaszewski, Ambassador of Poland to Korea, Csoma M?zes, Ambassador of Hungary to Korea, Jan Kuderjavi, Ambassador of Slovakia to Korea, and Gustav Slameczka, Ambassador of the Czech Republic to Korea, were present.
Yoo Myung-hee, Director-General for Trade Negotiations at the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, said, "For the economic cooperation between Korea and the V4, which has maintained a friendly cooperative relationship, to develop further, we need to turn our attention to green in line with global trends. The V4 countries have recently announced various policies related to carbon neutrality and eco-friendliness, and Korea is actively promoting energy innovation such as renewable energy and hydrogen, the spread of eco-friendly vehicles, and the development of green industrial complexes to achieve carbon neutrality, so the potential for cooperation between the two sides is limitless."
Additionally, Director-General Yoo stated, "The government will support active green business cooperation between the two sides, and in government-to-government cooperation channels, efforts will be made to give significant attention to discovering new business opportunities and resolving investment difficulties for companies."
Labor Dong-woon, Senior Researcher at the Korea Energy Economics Institute, who gave a keynote presentation, said, "Poland is the only EU member state that has chosen a low-carbon achievement strategy instead of carbon neutrality," adding, "It has announced plans to drastically reduce the share of coal-fired power generation from the current 80% to 11-28% by 2040."
Following this, Choi Gyun, Team Leader at the Korea Energy Technology Evaluation Institute, introduced the joint energy technology research project between Korea and Eastern European countries through a presentation on "Joint Research in the Energy Sector," and Oh Joo-hyun, Deputy Director of the Korea Trade Insurance Corporation, explained the "Financial Support System for Overseas Green Deal Projects."
Before the event, Woo Tae-hee, Executive Vice Chairman of KCCI, said, "Eastern Europe is promoting energy transition plans such as nuclear power, hydrogen, and electric vehicles in line with the European Union's (EU) 2050 carbon neutrality goal. Korean companies are expanding investments in global secondary battery production bases in Eastern Europe, and the possibility of nuclear power plant orders in the Czech Republic and Poland is also high, making the V4 region in Eastern Europe an area with great potential for additional cooperation."
He added, "The localization of core materials for the hydrogen economy such as carbon fiber, metal separators, and membrane films is actively progressing, and since these are applied to domestic hydrogen vehicles, cooperation with Eastern Europe can be leveraged as an opportunity to standardize the hydrogen economy across Europe."
Meanwhile, at the forum, representatives from companies operating in Eastern Europe, including Samsung SDI and LG Energy Solution, which have established major production bases in the V4 region, as well as Samsung Electronics, Hyundai Motor Group, POSCO, Hyosung Advanced Materials, and Doosan Bobcat, discussed cooperation measures with the regions they have entered and exchanged opinions on the requests and difficulties faced by these companies.
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