Erdogan's state visit prompts four MOUs covering energy, rare earths and technology

President Lee Jae Myung and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan shake hands after a joint press statement following their summit Tuesday. [Yonhap]
President Lee Jae Myung and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan shake hands after a joint press statement following their summit Tuesday. [Yonhap]

South Korea and Turkey pledged to build a stronger framework for cooperation on energy and minerals. On the sidelines of a summit Tuesday between President Lee Jae Myung and visiting Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the two countries signed four memorandums of understanding to expand cooperation on energy and critical minerals, including rare earths.

Ministry of Climate, Environment and Energy Minister Kim Sung-hwan and Turkish Energy and Natural Resources Minister Alparslan Bayraktar signed an MOU to establish an energy cooperation framework and strengthen a strategic energy partnership between the two countries.

The agreement covers broad cooperation to accelerate the energy transition — including joint research — as well as expanded exchanges on policy and technology in areas such as renewable energy, power grids and nuclear power plants. It also calls for the creation of a new energy transition forum to identify concrete cooperation projects.

Export-Import Bank of Korea President Hwang Ki-yeon and Turkish Atomic Energy Authority President Nezati Yamac then signed a separate MOU on financial cooperation for nuclear power plant projects.

Under that agreement, the two institutions will establish a framework for exchanging strategic information on projects involving South Korean companies and strengthen their partnership to assess the feasibility of financial support and identify potential financing opportunities.

The two sides also adopted an MOU on natural resources and mining cooperation, including rare earths. Signed by Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy Minister Kim Jung-kwan and Bayraktar, the agreement provides for sharing information on critical minerals and rare earth resources, building a strategic partnership in advanced rare earth materials, and promoting cooperation on the digitalization of mining operations.

In addition, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Science and ICT Bae Kyung-hoon and Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan signed an MOU on science, technology and innovation cooperation, covering joint research and development, personnel exchanges and information sharing across six fields including AI, biotech, advanced communications and advanced materials.

Separately from the four agreements signed in the presence of the two leaders, South Korea and Turkey also concluded an investment cooperation MOU between KOTRA and the Turkish Presidential Investment Office.

KOTRA President Kang Kyung-sung and Turkish Presidential Investment Office head Ahmet Burak Daglioglu signed the agreement, which covers the exchange of publicly available economic information and the preparation of investment opportunity materials, the promotion of reciprocal investment and the provision of information on investment conditions — including joint ventures, mergers and acquisitions, greenfield and brownfield projects — as well as the sharing of information on trade fairs and business events and the facilitation of high-level government and business visits.


20ki@heraldcorp.com