Jang In-hwa, Chairman of the Korea Iron & Steel Association (and Chairman of POSCO Group), has successfully led the bid to host the 2027 World Steel Association (worldsteel) Regular General Assembly in Seoul.

During a member companies meeting held in New Delhi, India on the 13th (local time), worldsteel officially announced Seoul, South Korea, as the host city for the 2027 General Assembly. Held every October, the worldsteel General Assembly gathers chief executive officers (CEOs) from global steel companies to discuss industry pending issues and seek cooperation for sustainable development. This will mark the first time in 22 years that the worldsteel General Assembly is held in Seoul, following the previous event in 2005.

Chairman Jang directly appeared in the promotional video for the Seoul General Assembly, urging worldsteel member companies to actively attend the upcoming event in Seoul. The steel industry evaluated that securing this Seoul assembly has reaffirmed the global status of South Korea's steel industry.

As of last year, South Korea ranks as the world's 6th largest crude steel producer (62.23 million tons) and ranks 1st globally in per capita steel consumption (844 kg). Furthermore, the country is leading an innovative transition in steel production infrastructure by developing technologies such as hydrogen reduction steelmaking, which uses hydrogen instead of coal as a reducing agent.

During the three-day worldsteel New Delhi General Assembly starting from the 11th, Chairman Chang continued his diplomatic efforts for global cooperation and solidarity. At the Executive Committee meeting, he engaged in deep discussions on core pending issues, such as the development of low-carbon product guidelines and the international standardization of carbon emission allocation methods.

Regarding climate change response, he mentioned the damage caused by Typhoon Hinnamnor in 2022, emphasizing the necessity of establishing a public-private cooperative response system to prepare for extreme disaster situations. Additionally, Chairman Chang held consecutive meetings with key steel company CEOs, including Sajjan Jindal, Chairman of JSW Group, during the assembly period to explore opportunities for strengthening business cooperation.

[ⓒ Global Economic Times. 무단전재-재배포 금지]