▲ 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)

S Korea-IPEF

S. Korea discusses strategies for new IPEF initiative talks

SEOUL, Aug. 18 (Yonhap) -- Officials of the South Korean trade, finance and foreign ministries discussed strategies Friday ahead of a new round of negotiations on the United States-led Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF), the trade ministry said.

Trade Minister Ahn Duk-geun and officials of relevant ministries held a trade committee meeting in Seoul, as the country will take part in the fifth round of IPEF talks slated for Sept. 10-16 in Bangkok, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.

The platform was launched by U.S. President Joe Biden in 2022 in a move to counter China's growing influence in the region, and member nations have held four rounds of negotiations to set details, with the latest round taking place in South Korea's southeastern port city of Busan.

The initiative has the four pillars of supply chain resilience, trade, a clean economy and a fair economy, and they reached an agreement on the pillar of supply chain resilience during a May meeting in Detroit.

The member nations include South Korea, the United States, Australia, India, Indonesia, Japan, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, and they represent 40 percent of the global gross domestic product and 28 percent of the global goods and services trade, according to government data.

In 2021, trade volume between South Korea and the remaining 13 IPEF member nations reached US$498.4 billion, accounting for 39.6 percent of Seoul's total trade that year.

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