According to Yonhap News,
South Korea is set to take part in a new round of negotiations on the United States-led Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) to be held in San Francisco this week, according to Seoul officials Sunday.
The seventh round of IPEF talks, which will take place less than two weeks after the sixth round was held in Kuala Lumpur, is expected to be the last official negotiations this year.
The platform was launched by U.S. President Joe Biden in 2022 in a move to counter China's growing influence in the region. It involves a total of 14 member nations, including South Korea, the U.S., Australia, India, Indonesia, Japan, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
The initiative has four pillars -- trade, supply chain resilience, a clean economy and a fair economy -- and they reached an agreement on the supply chain resilience pillar during a meeting in May.
Roh Keon-ki, a senior official at South Korea's trade ministry and Seoul's chief negotiator for the talks, said his delegation will make utmost efforts to produce "maximum achievements."
The IPEF members represent around 40 percent of global gross domestic product and 28 percent of global goods and services trade, according to government data.
kdh@yna.co.kr
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Source: Yonhap News (November 5, 2023)