[Asia Economy Reporter Jang Hee-jun] South Korea and Australia’s diplomatic authorities have agreed to cooperate in specifying the norms of the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF).
According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the 5th, Lee Mi-yeon, Director General of the Bilateral Economic Diplomacy Bureau at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Gary Cowan, Acting Deputy Secretary for Strategic Geopolitics at the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, held a director-general level economic cooperation meeting in Seoul on the same day, agreeing to cooperate not only on bilateral core mineral supply chains but also at the multilateral level through frameworks such as the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) and the Minerals Security Partnership (MSP).
Both sides agreed to closely cooperate to achieve tangible results, such as specifying the norms and cooperation of IPEF, taking advantage of the upcoming official IPEF negotiations scheduled this month in Brisbane, Australia.
Launched under the leadership of the United States in May, IPEF includes a total of 14 countries, including South Korea, Japan, Australia, and India. It is widely regarded as a 'counter-China economic alliance' in practice.
Both parties also reaffirmed the necessity of cooperation in areas such as global supply chain stability and climate response as like-minded countries in the Indo-Pacific region. Accordingly, they shared the goal of producing practical outcomes in human exchanges, defense exports, and supply chain stability.
A Ministry of Foreign Affairs official evaluated the meeting, saying, "It served as an opportunity to explore areas with high potential for cooperation between the two countries in line with the comprehensive strategic partnership and to further deepen mutually beneficial cooperation."
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