S. Korea, US & Japan to hold ministers' talks on supply chain issues

Washington, April 13 (IANS) South Korea and the United States have agreed to hold bilateral talks on supply chain and commercial issues and a trilateral industry ministers' meeting with Japan in the first half of the year, a senior Seoul official said.

Industry Minister Ahn Duk-geun announced the agreement, wrapping up his dayslong trip in Washington, during which he met U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, lawmakers and experts for talks on trade, energy and industrial issues.

The plan for the meetings comes as Seoul, Washington and Tokyo have been strengthening bilateral and trilateral cooperation under a U.S. push to cement a "lattice-like" network of allies to confront regional and global challenges, reports Yonhap news agency.

"Through a meeting with the commerce secretary, we discussed ways to produce wide-ranging outcomes from the South Korea-U.S. Supply Chain and Commercial Dialogue (SCCD), and discussed ways to cooperate through the South Korea-U.S.-Japan industry ministers' meeting," Ahn said in a meeting with Korean reporters.

He was referring to the trilateral ministerial meeting that South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, U.S. President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida agreed to create at their landmark summit at Camp David in Maryland in August.

SCCD is a regular ministerial forum designed to discuss promotion of resilient supply chains of key products, including semiconductors, batteries, and critical minerals.

During bilateral energy ministers' talks this week, Ahn proposed holding the Ministerial Energy Policy Dialogue -- a comprehensive platform designed to discuss a wide range of bilateral energy issues -- within this year.

"The two sides formed a shared understanding over the need to revitalise communication channels between the two (energy) ministers," Ahn said.

The minister also said that he called for U.S. government officials and lawmakers to ensure that South Korean enterprises can get subsidies and tax incentives without any discrimination, and smoothly secure visas for their workers needed for the establishment of U.S. facilities.

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