President Yoon meets with European leaders and unfolds ‘sales diplomacy’ for nuclear power, defense industry, and infrastructure cooperation

President Yoon Seok-yeol, who visited Lithuania to attend the NATO Summit, held separate bilateral meetings with leaders of 13 countries, including NATO allies, for two days on the 11th and 12th (local time) to discuss ways to strengthen economic cooperation.

On the 11th, bilateral talks were held with the heads of seven countries, including Norway, Portugal, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Hungary, Romania, and Sweden, and on the 12th, bilateral talks were held with the leaders of six countries, including the United Kingdom, Estonia, Slovakia, Japan, Finland, and Lithuania.

At a local briefing on the 12th, Senior Secretary for Economic Affairs Choi Sang-mok of the Presidential Office explained, “There have been a total of 40 bilateral meetings during the five multilateral meetings.

He added, “As this was the first summit meeting for 8 out of 13 countries after the inauguration of the Yoon Seok-yeol administration, we expect it to be a starting point for creating new achievements in the future.”

Chief Choi said, “When the president opened the door to cooperation through bilateral talks during the multilateral meeting, Team Korea, including the minister and related companies, has produced concrete results through follow-up measures.” It was introduced by compressing it into two keywords: strengthening and securing new export markets.

Official Dinner for participants of the NATO Summit by the Lithuanian president, July 11, 2023, The Presidential Palace, Vilnius, Lithuania Source: Office of the President, flickr Official Photographer : Kang Min Seok

Regarding strengthening the supply chain, President Yoon explained in detail Korea’s advantages as a semiconductor equipment investment destination to Prime Minister Mark Luther of the Netherlands, and at the same time strongly requested ASML’s investment in Korea, promising clear investment incentives such as cash support, tax credits, and site support.

ASML of the Netherlands, the world’s No. 1 company in exposure equipment essential for manufacturing advanced semiconductors, is currently considering establishing a new exposure equipment (DUV) manufacturing plant in Asia.

At the summit with Lithuania, they discussed ways to strengthen cooperation with Lithuania, an industrial laser powerhouse that is essential for ultra-precision and ultra-fine semiconductor processing, and the advanced semiconductor supply chain.

Lithuanian President Kitanas Nauseda hoped to expand cooperation with world-class semiconductor and display companies in Korea, and showed great interest in Korean-made self-propelled artillery weapons systems.

President Yoon decided to further strengthen the supply chain for electric vehicles and batteries, including cooperation in core minerals, with the leaders of Hungary and Sweden and other countries, and also discussed ways to strengthen the supply chain with Slovakia, where Kia Motors is promoting electric vehicle production.

Currently, Korea’s three major battery companies, LG Ensol, Samsung SDI, and SK On, have entered Poland and Hungary, playing a key role in the European electric vehicle industry. In addition, Sweden, where Europe’s largest rare earth mine is located, Portugal, which has Europe’s largest lithium reserve, and Finland, a key nickel producer, are attracting attention as key countries in the supply chain for electric vehicles and batteries.

They also discussed cooperation to strengthen the energy supply chain.

With Norway, which has strengths in producing, storing and transporting green hydrogen due to its abundance of renewable energy such as hydropower, it was decided to expand mutually complementary cooperation by combining hydrogen utilization technologies such as our hydrogen cars.

In addition, with the Norwegian state-run energy company Equinor’s investment in Korea, they decided to strengthen green cooperation such as carbon capture and storage technology along with cooperation in the field of offshore wind power.

In addition, President Yoon proposed to European leaders to expand cooperation with Korea on EUREKA, Europe’s high-tech joint R&D platform, to promote world-class international joint research. The two sides agreed to closely cooperate in technology joint development and standard establishment.

For reference, Eureka is the world’s largest R&D network with a total of 47 countries participating, and Korea was the first non-European country to be appointed as a board member for a two-year term in June this year.

President Yoon also discussed securing new export markets in Europe. According to Chief Choi, the European leaders who met this time strongly hope for cooperation with Korea in nuclear power, defense, and infrastructure.

First of all, in relation to the recent push for new nuclear power plant construction in many European countries to respond to climate change and strengthen energy security, President Yoon explained the excellence of Korean nuclear power plants to the leaders of the Netherlands, Hungary, Romania, and Sweden, who are planning to introduce new nuclear power plants. , proposed nuclear cooperation.

In addition, nuclear power cooperation was proposed at the summit meeting between the UK and Slovakia, where there is a plan to introduce new nuclear power plants.

In the case of Romania, KHNP recently won an order for a tritium removal facility for the Cernavoda nuclear power plant worth KRW 260 billion, and we requested positive consideration for our company’s participation in the future nuclear power plant facility improvement project worth KRW 2.5 trillion.

The leaders of Hungary, Romania, and Sweden, who are promoting the introduction of small modular reactors (SMRs), were promoted to the Korean SMRs currently under development, and asked for interest and support. With Finland, which is about to operate the world’s first ‘high-level radioactive waste disposal site’, we discussed cooperation on radioactive waste disposal facilities.

Along with this, it was decided to continue strengthening cooperation in the defense industry at the summit with Norway, Romania, and Hungary, who are interested in cooperation in the defense industry with Korea, and defense cooperation plans were discussed at the summit meeting with Slovakia, Estonia, and Lithuania on the 12th.

In particular, at the summit with Romania on the 11th, there was progress in discussing entry into the European infrastructure market. President Yoon asked for Korean companies, including the Busan Port Authority, to participate in the ‘Constanta Port Development Project’, the largest port in the Black Sea, which Romania is promoting, and Romanian President Johannis expressed a positive stance.

As the port of Odessa in Ukraine was blocked due to the Russian invasion, the port of Constanta in Romania has emerged as a key logistics base connecting Central and Eastern Europe and the Black Sea, and port expansion and development, with grain traffic increasing by 21% in the first half of this year compared to the previous year. It was to attack the point of this urgent situation.

With the visit of Prime Minister Han Deok-soo in May and this summit as an opportunity, the outlook for Korean companies to win orders for the development and operation of the port of Constanta is bright.

Meanwhile, President Yoon also put a lot of effort into rebuilding Ukraine.

Reconstruction of Ukraine is expected to cost up to $1 trillion, which is comparable to the Marshall Plan, which was an aid project to rebuild Western Europe after World War II.

On the 11th, at an interview with a delegation from the U.S. Senate, Korea-US cooperation for reconstruction of Ukraine was discussed. In Poland, which will become the hub of Ukraine reconstruction in the future, discussions between the heads of state and discussions with Korean companies will be held to discuss specific ways to enter the country. am.

Not only construction companies, but also IT companies that will lead smart city construction and the Export-Import Bank of Korea, which will provide financial support such as EDCF, will attend.

Chief Choi said, “The cooperation agendas discussed at the bilateral summit held on the occasion of this NATO summit will be systematically followed up through Team Korea activities in which relevant ministries and companies participate, and we will do our best to lead to concrete results. ”he said.