■ Vice Chairman Kim met the Polish Minister of Economic Development and Technology, looking for support backing Busan’s bid to host the 2030 World Expo

■ The World Expo in Busan will work as a platform for discussing various tasks that humankind is confronting

■ Vice Chairman Kim Jun: “South Korea and Poland pursue the same goal on future energy […] SK Group will continue business cooperation”

SK Innovation Vice Chairman Kim Jun visited Poland and requested support from the Polish government for Korea’s hosting of the 2030 World Expo in Busan. Furthermore, Vice Chairman Kim discussed ways of cooperation with Poland in terms of SK Group’s green energy business.

Prior to the visit, on June 1, SK Group launched the “WE (World Expo) TF (Task Force),” with V-level executives lined up as members. Cho Dae-sik, the Chairman of the SK SUPEX Council, took the position of the TF Head. Following the launch, Chairman Cho visited Fiji in the South Pacific, where the Pacific Islands Forum took place in July, and successfully conducted a campaign to support Busan’s bid for World Expo 2030.

In the afternoon of August 9 (local time), Vice Chairman Kim had a meeting with the Polish Minister of Economic Development and Technology Waldemar Grzegorz Buda at the office of Ministry of Economic Development and Technology in Warsaw, Poland. SK IE Technology (hereafter, SKIET) CEO Roh Jae-sok, Deputy Director of Investment Development Department Robert Piłka, and Deputy Director of the Department for Trade and International Cooperation Alexander Siemaszko also attended the meeting.

Vice Chairman Kim is in charge of SK Group’s green energy business portfolio as the Chairman of the Green Business Committee in the SUPEX Council, which is the highest consultative committee of the group.

During the meeting, Vice Chairman Kim said, “The 2030 Busan World Expo is designed to become a platform where various tasks and challenges facing the world, such as the climate change, can be discussed and solved together.” He added, “As SK and Poland share the same goal regarding the environment and future energy, the 2030 Busan World Expo, which will serve as a venue for global discussion to seek ways for sustainability, will be a great opportunity for both SK and Poland.”

Previously, Poland announced the “Energy Policy of Poland until 2040,” which mainly deals with a significant reduction in dependence on coal and investment expansion in offshore wind power generation/solar power generation. SK Group also declared Net Zero by 2050, and in order to accomplish its goal, it has been striving to push forward with green energy businesses, such as electric vehicle (EV) batteries, hydrogen, and small modular reactors (SMRs).

Moreover, Vice Chairman Kim anticipates close cooperation in the future green energy field with Poland. Vice Chairman Kim mentioned, “SK Group appreciates the Polish government’s support and interest in the company’s ongoing investment projects in Poland.” He continued, “For investment projects afoot by respective affiliates of SK Group, the company will try to make sure that the projects will be on a roll as promised. We plan to positively review new additional projects as well.”

Minister Buda replied, “The Polish government seeks flexible and out-of-box cooperation with SK and other South Korean companies. In particular, as Poland focuses on developing EV and future energy industries, we will actively support South Korean companies that are expanding their investment in those fields.”/span>

Poland is the biggest trade and investment partner to South Korea in Central and Eastern Europe. Especially, the country works as a major production base in Europe for Korean companies. With SK Group having invested approximately USD 2.6 billion, SKIET, SK Nexilis, SK Hynix, and SKC are operating their production facilities and research and development (R&D) corporations in Poland.

On the other hand, after finishing his campaign to support the hosting of the 2030 Busan World Expo, Vice Chairman Kim visited SKIET’s lithium-ion battery separator (LiBS) production plant located in Silesia Province, Poland, inspecting the production site and encouraging the members. SKIET is the first LiBS production company in Europe, and by 2024, it plans to secure the LiBS production capacity of 1.54 billion ㎡ through an investment worth approximately KRW 2.2 trillion to become the largest manufacturer in the region.

[Photo]

Kim Jun, Vice Chairman of SK Innovation (left) and Waldemar Buda, Polish Minister of Economic Development and Technology, take pictures after the meeting held at the office of the Ministry of Economic Development and Technology, Warsaw, Poland on August 9 (local time).