Presidential Chief of Staff Kang Hoon-sik will visit Canada on Saturday as special presidential envoy for strategic economic cooperation. The visit, his first to Canada in about four months since January, is seen as an all-out final push to win the Canadian Patrol Submarine Project (CPSP), a contract with a total project cost of 60 trillion won.
"I am departing for Canada as the special presidential envoy for strategic economic cooperation," Kang said in a Facebook post on Saturday. "The delegation includes the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, along with companies and organizations in the energy, resources, supply chain and advanced industry sectors."
Kang is expected to attend the Korea-Canada Resource Security and Supply Chain Cooperation Forum, which will be held in Canada in early June. Strengthening Korea-Canada resource cooperation is the key agenda of the forum. With Canada requiring countries bidding for the submarine contract to commit to domestic investment as a condition of the deal, the Korean government is expected to put forward investment cards in resources and energy. LG Energy Solution recently completed a large-scale battery plant in Ontario, Canada.
"As confirmed in the phone call between the two leaders on May 8, the Korea-Canada relationship is rapidly expanding across the economy, energy and advanced industries," Kang said. "Especially as the Middle East situation drags on, I am realizing that the economic and industrial structures of the two countries are mutually complementary, and that as middle powers on the global stage, the synergy of cooperation is very significant."
He added, "As this is my second envoy visit in four months, I will do my best to achieve tangible results that can expand strategic cooperation between the two countries in energy, resources, supply chains and advanced industries."
The CPSP preferred bidder is expected to be selected in late June. The Canadian submarine project is a mega-project to build 12 diesel submarines to replace four Victoria-class submarines that the Royal Canadian Navy plans to retire in the mid-2030s. Korea and Germany are competing for the contract. Until last year, the prevailing forecast was that Korea's chances of winning were low, but observers say the mood has recently shifted.
