Minister Saito Holds Meeting with H.E. Mr. Ahn Dukgeun, Minister for Trade, Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, ROK

On Monday, April 22, 2024, Minister Saito held a meeting with Minister Ahn, who was visiting Japan. The ministers confirmed the importance of Japan-ROK ties and the ongoing advancement of cooperation and also exchanged views to enhance future economic cooperation between Japan and the ROK.

At the meeting, the two sides appreciated the steady progress made in bilateral economic ties since the Japan-ROK summit meeting held in March 2023 and they welcomed active exchanges that have been undertaken not only between the governments but also between industrial players in Japan and the ROK, including regional ones. In addition, they agreed to launch a series of dialogues for information sharing, aiming at supply chain resilience, a common challenge that Japan and the ROK are facing.

In addition, the two sides confirmed again the importance of clean hydrogen and ammonia and welcomed the progress made in discussions at the Japan-ROK Hydrogen and its derivatives such as ammonia cooperation dialogue. Following this, they confirmed the significance of Japan-ROK collaboration in the fields of energy and climate change and agreed to launch a series of regular dialogues that aim to discuss cooperation to realize the Carbon-Free Energy (CFE) initiative proposed by H.E. Mr. Yoon Suk Yeol, ROK President, and discuss policy collaboration on industrial decarbonization that the two countries are working on and global rule-making related to the decarbonization.

Moreover, the ministers reaffirmed the importance of a multilateral rules-based trading system with the WTO at its core and agreed that Japan and the ROK will closely collaborate in addressing prioritized issues, including dispute settlement reform.

Furthermore, the two sides recognized the need to hold not only bilateral discussions for collaboration but also trilateral ones, including the Japan-China-ROK economic and trade ministers’ meeting and a Japan-U.S.-ROK commerce and industry ministers meeting. In light of this, they agreed that Japan and the ROK will closely cooperate to realize these meetings.

Division in Charge

Korea Office, Trade Policy Bureau