"From Key Minerals to Safety" Chairman Jang Inhwa Leads Expansion of Korea-Australia Economic Cooperation

Chairman Jang Inhwa Leads Joint Korea-Australia Economic Cooperation Committee Meeting as Korean Chairman

Jang Inhwa, Chairman of POSCO Group, has taken on the role of Korean Chairman of the Korea-Australia Economic Cooperation Committee (KOAECC), serving as a bridge between the two countries.

Jang Inhwa, Chairman of POSCO Group. POSCO Group

POSCO Group announced that the 46th joint meeting of the KOAECC was held on September 17 at the FKI Tower in Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul. Chairman Jang attended the meeting as the Korean Chairman, where he led broad discussions on strengthening industry, innovation, and sustainability between Korea and Australia. The agenda covered not only key minerals and clean energy, but also safety and disaster response, as both countries sought ways to cooperate on pressing contemporary challenges and reinforce their partnership.

The joint meeting was attended by approximately 200 government and business leaders from both countries, including Martin Ferguson, Chairman of the Australia-Korea Business Council (AKBC), Park Jongwon, Deputy Minister for Trade at the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, and Jeff Robinson, Australian Ambassador to Korea.

On this day, Chairman Jang stated, "I hope that both countries will go beyond expanding economic and industrial investment to broaden the scope of key cooperation areas, such as regional coexistence, industrial safety, and disaster response, and work together to find solutions for a sustainable future."

This year's joint meeting addressed cooperation in five areas, including key mineral supply chains, clean energy, artificial intelligence (AI) ecosystem innovation, industrial safety, and disaster response. Notably, for the first time, 'AI-based industrial safety and disaster response' was introduced as a special agenda item, further expanding the scope of bilateral cooperation and exploring new models for collaboration.

During the industrial safety and disaster response session, POSCO Group introduced new social contribution initiatives aimed at strengthening disaster response capabilities. POSCO Group announced plans to benchmark the advanced disaster response systems and accumulated expertise of New South Wales, Australia, which has experience overcoming large-scale wildfires. In partnership with the National Disaster Relief Association, POSCO Group will implement projects such as disaster simulation training, improvement of evacuation facilities, and support for firefighting equipment to help local residents respond quickly and safely to natural disasters.

In the key mineral supply chain session, successful cases of bilateral collaboration were shared, including POSCO Pilbara Lithium Solution, which imports Australian lithium ore to produce lithium hydroxide for secondary battery materials in Korea, and the activities of the 'Australia Core Resources Research Institute,' POSCO Group's first overseas resource research center.

Meanwhile, POSCO Group has been collaborating with Australia in the field of resource development since the early 1970s, starting with iron ore purchases. Australia remains a key partner in the supply chain for critical minerals such as lithium. POSCO purchases over 7 billion dollars (approximately 9.6551 trillion won) worth of steelmaking raw materials from Australia each year, accounting for 70% of its total raw material purchases. To ensure stable procurement, POSCO has participated in the development of the Roy Hill iron ore mine in Australia and is also pursuing a project to produce HBI, a low-carbon steelmaking raw material. In addition, POSCO International expanded its natural gas business by acquiring Senex Energy in Australia in 2022.

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