Han-독 Quantum Economic Talks Discuss COVID-19 Response and Bilateral Cooperation in Digital and Energy Sectors

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] On the 12th, Lee Seong-ho, Director-General for Economic Diplomacy Coordination at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Eckhart Franz, Director-General of the Foreign Economic Policy Department at the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, held a video conference to discuss cooperation measures between Korea and Germany on COVID-19 response, bilateral economic issues, digital and energy sectors.

Korea and Germany have held the Economic Joint Committee annually, and this year, considering the COVID-19 situation, they agreed to hold a video conference on major economic issues between the two countries.

The two sides assessed the COVID-19 situation and economic impacts in both countries and discussed global supply chain issues and economic crisis recovery measures. The Korean side introduced the government's Digital New Deal, Green New Deal, and social safety net strengthening policies, while the German side expressed interest and requested expanded cooperation in related fields. Both sides agreed to continue cooperating to expand the scope of essential personnel entry between the two countries.

Additionally, the two sides consulted on mutual bilateral trade issues and discussed ways to expand cooperation between the two countries in climate change, digital cooperation, and energy partnership following the 32nd Joint Committee last year. Regarding climate change, the Korean side explained the government's 2050 carbon neutrality goal and the Green New Deal, requesting Germany's interest and support for next year's P4G Summit.

Considering the international environment expected to change after the U.S. presidential election, both sides reaffirmed their firm support for a rules-based multilateral trading order and discussed their trade diversification strategies to respond to new environmental changes.

Regarding digital cooperation, both sides evaluated the ongoing establishment of the 'Digital High-Level Regular Consultative Body' between the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy and the Korean Ministry of Science and ICT to expand cooperation in areas such as the 4th Industrial Revolution, big data, artificial intelligence, and digital platform construction.

Both sides assessed that this high-level economic consultation between the two countries, held as a continuation of Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha's visit to Germany in August and the phone call between President Moon Jae-in and Chancellor Merkel in October, served as an opportunity to further strengthen the cooperative relationship between Korea, Germany's largest trading partner in Europe, and Germany, a key partner in the Asian region.

Meanwhile, both sides evaluated the holding of this video conference for discussing current issues and agreed to hold the 33rd Korea-Germany Economic Joint Committee at an appropriate time next year.

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