Korea-East Europe, Promoting Cooperation in 'Green Mobility'

Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy Launches 'V4 Plus Economic and Trade Forum' and Holds 1st Meeting
"Establishing a Cooperation Platform with V4 Region to Respond to GVC Restructuring"

Park Ki-young, Deputy Minister for Trade, Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. (Photo by Yonhap News)

[Asia Economy Reporter Moon Chaeseok] The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy announced on the 20th that it has launched an economic and trade forum with the four major Eastern European countries, chaired by Deputy Trade Minister Park Ki-young. This is to respond to the reorganization of the Global Value Chain (GVC).

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, under the chairmanship of Deputy Minister Park, launched the 'V4 Plus Economic and Trade Forum,' composed of the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry, major local companies, support organizations, and regional experts.

V4 Plus refers to the four-country consortium of Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary, and Slovakia, as well as neighboring countries. This region has emerged as the 'factory of Europe' after joining the European Union (EU).

In recent years, supported by Europe's eco-friendly policies, investments in electric vehicle battery production from South Korea have been activated.

As a result of maintaining a friendly economic cooperation relationship, trade between the two sides has increased this year compared to last year, even under the conditions of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19).

Deputy Minister Park said, "After COVID-19, the GVC has been reorganized with a focus on stability, increasing the investment attractiveness of the V4 countries in Europe, and economic cooperation with South Korea is expected to expand significantly." He added, "We hope to seek economic cooperation promotion through the forum and actively resolve difficulties faced by companies on both sides."

Deputy Minister Park explained that for both sides to achieve more results through economic cooperation, it is necessary to focus on 'green' and 'digital.' He evaluated that South Korea, which is promoting the 'Korean New Deal' centered on green and digital, and the V4 countries, which are striving to foster advanced industries such as artificial intelligence (AI) and 5G, have abundant cooperation potential.

Considering this situation, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy selected 'green mobility' as the theme for the first meeting. This is to explore business cooperation between the two countries in the development of Korea's future car industry, including electric and hydrogen vehicles, and the EU's eco-friendly policies.

The Ministry plans to activate the forum to actively support the local management activities of Korean companies and discover cooperation tasks, thereby deepening cooperation between the two sides.

Deputy Minister Park said, "Korea and the V4 share the commonality of achieving growth through a free and fair open economy," and requested the V4 ambassadors in Korea and other attendees to support Trade Negotiations Director-General Yoo Myung-hee, who possesses the trade expertise and strong leadership required for WTO reform and the restoration of the multilateral trading system."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.