A venue will be set up to help ensure that diplomatic cooperation between governments leads to tangible overseas orders for our corporations.
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said on the 26th that it will hold a "briefing on U.S. government-introduced construction projects" in Seoul on the afternoon of the 27th, bringing together about 40 officials from domestic construction companies and general trading companies. Officials from the U.S. Embassy in Korea will also take part to broaden the scope of economic cooperation between the two countries.
This briefing began when, earlier this year, Minister Kim Yun-duk of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT) visited the United States and the U.S. Department of Energy proposed Korea's participation in building energy infrastructure. After that, a project to build lithium and boron production facilities in the state of Nevada took shape, and in July Vice Minister Kim Ei-tak achieved results by signing a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on participation in the project on site.
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT) plans to fully share with domestic industry about 10 key projects secured through government-level discussions and gauge interest in participation from various angles. Projects that can be disclosed include: ▲ the Tennessee synthetic graphite plant (NOVONIX Riverside) ▲ the $1.9 billion Michigan potassium chloride and salt production facilities (U.S. Potash Project) ▲ the $2 billion California Willow Rock energy storage facility (Willow Rock Energy Sorage Center) ▲ the $1.2 billion Nebraska urea plant (Project Meadowlark) ▲ the $1.5 billion Washington ammonia plant (Pacific Green Fertilizer).
All of these projects are long in duration, very large in scale, and take the form of public-private partnership (PPP) investment and development involving multiple institutions. Accordingly, the two governments plan to provide multifaceted support to ensure projects proceed smoothly.
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT) expects this overseas construction model—finding opportunities through government-to-government (G2G) contacts and then pairing them with domestic corporations—to increase over time. If domestic corporations show interest, MOLIT plans to form "Team Korea" by bringing together a project sponsor, financial institutions, and public institutions, and provide tailored support.
A representative case is the FLNG offshore plant project in Louisiana, United States. The project is a large-scale venture that produces about 4.4 million tons of liquefied natural gas (LNG) annually off the coast of Louisiana, and Samsung Heavy Industries won engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) work worth about 4 trillion won out of the total project cost of 7 trillion won. It is the result of organic coordination, with related ministries and public institutions such as the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT), the climate ministry, and the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries (MOF) investing about 200 billion won.
Construction Policy Director Kim Seok-ki said, "The key to making visible progress from dispatching bid-support missions is to quickly connect the cooperation projects identified through intergovernmental diplomatic activities to our corporations," adding, "We will continue to provide all-around support, combined with strategic financial backing, to dramatically raise our corporations' chances of winning orders."