Korea and the EU will finish discussions on digital partnership within this year. A ministerial-level annual consultative body for the implementation of cooperation will be established.
The Ministry of Science and ICT announced on Sunday(Sep 4) that, Second Vice Minister Park Yun-gyu met Roberto Viola, Director General of Communication, Networks, Content and Technology(DG CONNECT) of the European Commission in Brussels to discuss matters related to the Korea-EU digital partnership agreement.
Deputy Minister Park and Director General Viola confirmed the issues that had been discussed among working-level officials during this meeting, and discussed the establishment of a ministerial-level annual consultative body and the formation of various working groups to support it.
In addition, through this system, it was decided to proceed with preferential cooperation in 10 areas such as AI and semiconductors.
Meanwhile, Vice Minister Park visited IMEC, Europe's largest semiconductor research institute. He said that Korea and the EU are planning to establish a 'Korea-EU Semiconductor Researchers Forum' in relation to digital partnership, and asked IMEC to participate.
After the discussion with the EU, Vice minister Park also discussed digital cooperation with Germany and the UK.
Background
Earlier, President Yoon Seok-yeol had a brief meeting with EU president Charles Michel and agreed to expand the scope of bilateral cooperation by accelerating the establishment of partnerships in digital technology. This vice-ministerial level meeting was held to practically implement it.
In the 'EU strategy for cooperation in the Indo-Pacific' announced in September last year, the EU announced its intention to enter into a digital partnership with Korea, Japan and Singapore. The EU announced a digital partnership between Japan and the EU following the EU-Japan summit in May. The discussion on the digital partnership between Korea and the EU began in September last year when a European Commissioner visited Korea and proposed a digital partnership to the Minister of Science and ICT(MSIT).
Korea-EU Research Centre(KERC) supported MSIT for this meeting, and will continuously support research cooperation between EU and Korea on different levels. KERC also conducted study and analysis on the current key policy and trends of 10 areas for Korea-EU digital partnership. The report(only in Korean) will be published this September.
