Officials from South Korea’s trade, finance, and foreign ministries met on Friday to discuss tactics for the upcoming fifth round of negotiations for the U.S.-led Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF). The Trade Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy reported that Trade Minister Ahn Duk-geun and other relevant ministries held a trade committee meeting in Seoul in preparation for the talks that are scheduled to take place in Bangkok from September 10-16.
President Joe Biden established the platform in 2022 to counter China’s growing presence in the region, and the member nations have held four rounds of negotiations to determine the details, with the most recent being held in Busan, South Korea. The initiative is composed of four pillars: supply chain resilience, trade, a clean economy, and a fair economy, and the participants agreed on the pillar of supply chain resilience during the May meeting in Detroit.
The member countries include South Korea, the United States, Australia, India, Indonesia, Japan, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam, who together make up 40% of the global gross domestic product and 28% of the global goods and services trade. In 2021, the total trade between South Korea and the remaining 13 IPEF member nations was $498.4 billion, amounting to 39.6% of South Korea’s total trade for the year.
This photo, provided by South Korea's trade ministry, shows the ministerial meeting of the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) held in Detroit on May 27, 2023. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)
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