Hanwha Ocean said on the 24th that Melanie Joly, Canada's Minister of Trade and Industry (MOTI), visited Hanwha Ocean's Geoje shipyard. Minister Joly is the top working-level official holding the key decision-making authority in the bid for the $60 trillion Canadian Patrol Submarine Project (CPSP).
Minister Joly toured the interior of the Jang Young-sil, a new submarine recently launched for the Korean Navy, and checked Hanwha Ocean's submarine-building capabilities, including "Jang Bogo-III Batch-II."
The visit by a key Canadian government figure comes just a little over 20 days after Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney visited the same shipyard on the 30th.
Hanwha Ocean said that while Prime Minister Carney's visit served as a venue for building political trust symbolizing strengthened security cooperation between the two countries, Minister Joly's visit shows that the Canadian government has entered a stage of in-depth review of industrial, technological, and economic feasibility in its evaluation of the CPSP.
Kim Hee-cheul, Hanwha Ocean's CEO, said, "Hanwha Ocean not only provides the optimal solution to meet the Canadian Navy's operational requirements, but also simultaneously executes the speed, scale, technology transfer, and supply chain establishment that Canada seeks, emphasizing that we are a trusted partner that can grow alongside Canada's industry."