South Korea and the United States on Friday agreed to establish new dialogue channels to enhance cooperation on supply chains and other trade issues of mutual concern, the two sides said.
The agreement was made during a joint committee meeting of the bilateral free trade agreement (FTA) co-chaired by South Korean Trade Minister Yeo Han-koo and U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Katherine Tai.
"Minister Yeo and Ambassador Tai agreed to initiate new approaches through enhanced channels of communication to effectively address emerging trade-related issues in areas such as supply chain challenges, emerging technologies, the digital ecosystem, and trade facilitation, with the intention of deepening cooperation to enable common approaches and responses to challenges facing global trade," their joint statement read.
The two sides also discussed the need "to create sustainable, resilient, inclusive and competitive trade policies that achieve broad-based prosperity," according to the statement.
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Seoul and Washington have sought to boost cooperation to ensure resilient supply chains of major components and other items, such as semiconductors, amid a global supply shortage and an intensified Sino-U.S. rivalry, reports Yonhap news agency.
Earlier this month, Seoul's Industry Minister Moon Sung-wook met with U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, and agreed to create a new director-level dialogue channel on semiconductors and to hold an inaugural meeting in December.
"We are using our KORUS foundation to discuss how we can tackle major issues and challenges that we're facing today, such as supply chain resilience, worker rights and environmental protection," Tai said in her opening remarks. KORUS refers to the bilateral free trade pact.
