President Moon Jae-in and Prime Minister Scott Morrison of Australia held a summit on the morning of the 12th (local time) and agreed to broaden the fields of economic cooperation between the two countries, including low-carbon technology, the Blue House said.
The two leaders held a 47-minute summit meeting on the occasion of attending the G7 summit in Cornwall, England.
Although South Korea and Australia are not G7 members, they were invited side by side to this summit.
On the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between Korea and Australia this year, the two leaders agreed to elevate the bilateral relationship to a 'comprehensive partnership' and agreed to expand the field of economic cooperation as part of that.
In particular, the two leaders agreed that cooperation on low-carbon technologies such as hydrogen production and utilization would be possible.
Prime Minister Morrison said, "Australia's hydrogen energy production and Korea's hydrogen car and hydrogen economy can create synergy with each other." I hope that we will actively exchange and discover specific cooperative projects.”
The two leaders also agreed to cooperate in strengthening economic cooperation in the post-coronavirus era through the early entry into force of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (RCEP), which was signed in November last year by the ten ASEAN countries and South Korea, Australia, China, Japan and New Zealand.
RCEP is the world's largest free trade agreement (FTA).
President Moon also requested Prime Minister Morrison's interest and support so that Korean companies can participate in the Australian government's infrastructure development projects, such as the road construction project in northeastern Victoria and the Melbourne-Brisbane railway project.
President Moon also expressed his gratitude for Australia's unwavering support for peace on the Korean Peninsula and said, "I hope that (Australia) can help develop inter-Korean relations."
Prime Minister Morrison reaffirmed his support for this, saying, "I am well aware of how hard President Moon has been working on the North Korean issue."
Prime Minister Morrison also requested that President Moon visit Australia this year, the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between the two countries.
(Photo = Yonhap News)