President Yoon Seok-yeol will use his state visit to Singapore to expand solidarity in the supply chain between the two countries.
President Yoon, who is on a state visit to Singapore, signed a Supply Chain Partnership Arrangement (SCPA) between the two governments at a summit with Prime Minister Lawrence Wong on the 8th.
SCPA is similar to the existing MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) in that it is non-binding, but differs in the specificity of supply chain cooperation and the enhancement of implementation in times of crisis.
According to the President’s Office, the SCPA is a bilateral upgrade of the multilateral agreement ‘Indo-Pacific Economic Framework Supply Chain Agreement’, strengthening supply chain solidarity through multilateral and bilateral channels amid the spread of supply chain risk crises such as the US-China conflict and the Russia-Ukraine war. ·The explanation is that a bilateral multi-layered supply chain solidarity has been established.
Starting with Singapore this year, President Yoon plans to expand bilateral supply chain solidarity by expanding the number of countries with which SCPA will focus on cooperation in supply chain stabilization areas such as high-tech industry and energy.
The biggest feature of this SCPA is the establishment of a hotline to share supply chain information through an emergency contact network in the event of a supply chain crisis, provide advance notification when risk signs are detected, and mutual consultation in the event of export control measures.
In addition, there are three areas: minimizing unnecessary restrictions and barriers to trade, facilitating trade such as simplification of customs clearance procedures for vulnerable items in the supply chain, and advancing supply chain cooperation to specify supply chain cooperation in peacetime and in times of crisis.
In particular, it is said that when a supply chain crisis is detected, the two countries have prepared practical solutions, such as notifying in advance and agreeing to hold an emergency meeting within 5 days and go through consultation procedures when measures such as export control are invoked.
In addition, the LNG (liquefied natural gas) cooperation MOU signed between Korea’s Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and Singapore’s Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy is the first cooperation MOU between governments related to LNG supply and demand, and provides mutual cooperation to stabilize LNG supply and demand, such as swap and joint purchase, and prevents disruptions in the LNG supply chain. The two cities decided to cooperate to respond.
The President’s Office predicted that the establishment of an all-round cooperative relationship between the two countries in the LNG field will contribute to stabilizing domestic natural gas supply and demand and reducing introduction costs.
Economy Queen Reporter Kim Jeong-hyeon
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