Yuriko Backes on financial mission in South Korea

During the meeting with her counterpart and Deputy Prime Minister Choo, Yuriko Backes underlined the excellent relations between the Republic of Korea and Luxembourg, which have just celebrated 60 years of diplomatic relations. Kyung-ho Choo reiterated that South Korea will always remember the support and sacrifice of Luxembourg, who fought alongside South Korea during the Korean War. The two ministers then discussed the macroeconomic situation, the energy crisis and the impact of Russia's war on Ukraine. The Finance Minister and her counterpart also agreed to explore new ways of cooperation in the financial sector and to share best practices, particularly in the area of green finance. Korea and Luxembourg were indeed among the first countries in the world to establish a framework for issuing sustainability bonds.

Yuriko Backes said: "Our countries share common values and support a rules-based international order. Moreover, Korea and Luxembourg are open economies that promote free trade and globalisation. We are therefore natural allies and partners. The upcoming opening of an embassy in Korea will allow us to further strengthen our relations. In recent years, Luxembourg has also strengthened its cooperation with two international institutions focusing on green and climate finance based in Korea, the Global Climate Fund and the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI). We want to further strengthen our bilateral exchanges in this key area for our economies." Last summer, Luxembourg signed an agreement with the GGGI to establish an office in Luxembourg for its European activities.

High-level meetings with KOFIA, the Korean fund industry association, and the CEOs of major Korean asset managers as well as with the Korean Banking Federation provided an opportunity for the Minister and her delegation, including a representative of Luxembourg for Finance, to present the Luxembourg financial centre and to explore areas of future cooperation.

The Minister of Finance also met with the Chairman of the Financial Services Commission, Joo-hyun Kim, to discuss their respective priorities for the development of the financial sector, including sustainable finance and the digitalisation of financial services.

Finally, Yuriko Backes took the opportunity to meet Young-chul Hong, Honorary Consul of Luxembourg for the past 31 years. The minister thanked Young-chul Hong for his decades of commitment to strengthening relations between Korea and Luxembourg.

Yuriko pointed out: "I am delighted to see the interest shown by the various people I met regarding the ecosystem of our financial centre. Indeed, Luxembourg is very complementary to other financial centres, including Seoul, in particular thanks to its specialisation in cross-border financial services and products. While around 85% of foreign funds distributed in Korea come from Luxembourg, Korea is a market with great potential, especially in the banking and capital markets. I look forward to further strengthening our bilateral relations in the coming months and years".

Press release by the Ministry of Finance