The Export-Import Bank of Korea (Korea Eximbank) will expedite financial cooperation linked to industries such as critical minerals and clean energy with the India Exim Bank.
Korea Eximbank announced on May 6 that it held separate meetings with the India Exim Bank and SBI, India’s largest state-run bank, to discuss these plans, taking advantage of the 59th Annual Meeting of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) held in Uzbekistan.
These meetings were arranged to lay the groundwork for financial cooperation before large-scale investments begin in earnest following a summit between the two countries on April 20.
President Hwang Ki-yeon met with the senior vice president of India Eximbank to discuss practical support measures.
The agenda covered fund linkages in key mineral sectors such as rare earths, the identification of joint clean energy projects including solar, wind, and green hydrogen energy and financial cooperation measures to build India’s shipbuilding ecosystems.
In addition, based on the financial cooperation framework for India’s digital infrastructure established by Korea Eximbank with U.S. and Japanese development finance institutions (DFIs), they reviewed the possibility of cooperation with India Eximbank and exchanged views on joint ventures in the Global South including Africa.
During the meeting with the senior vice president of SBI, Hwang discussed measures to enhance the local competitiveness of Korean companies.
Both sides agreed to expand cooperation from automobiles to promising industrial sectors such as industrial equipment, electric home appliances, food, and cosmetics.
“It is a role of Korea Eximbank to preemptively lay the groundwork for financial cooperation before real investment begins in earnest,” Hwang said.
“Korea Eximbank will prepare concrete financial support measures to help Korean companies break into India in key sectors such as critical minerals, clean energy, and digital.”
Establishment of Critical Mineral Supply Chain Finance Alliance with ADB
Korea Eximbank announced on May 4 that it had signed a financial cooperation agreement worth $500 million with ADB for joint support for critical mineral projects.
This marked the first time a Korean policy financial institution has partnered with an international organization to jointly support critical mineral projects.
Korea Eximbank President Hwang Ki-yeon and ADB President Kanda Masato signed an agreement at the ADB Annual Meeting held in Samarkand, Uzbekistan on May 3.
The agreement includes measures to stabilize supply chains for critical minerals and establish a joint financial support platform.
Under this agreement, Korea Eximbank’s Supply Chain Stabilization Fund will participate in the Critical Minerals-Manufacturing Financial Cooperation Facility (CMM FPF) newly established by ADB.
This mechanism is a multilateral financial platform that supports entire supply chains from the exploration and mining of critical minerals to their processing and manufacturing, and involves participation by various governments, export credit agencies (ECAs), and multilateral development banks (MDBs).
Korea Eximbank plans to participate with a total scale of $500 million by 2029, utilizing various financial instruments such as loans, guarantees, and investments. Based on this, ADB will expand its total support scale to between $2 billion and $3 billion.
Moving forward, the two institutions will pursue the joint identification of promising critical mineral projects in developing countries; co-financing across entire value chains including exploration, mining, refining, smelting, processing, and resource recovery; and a combined financial structure of loans, guarantees, and technical support for high-risk projects.
In particular, Korea Eximbank has drawn up a plan to provide selective support, focusing on projects that contribute to supply chain stabilization for Korea such as equity participation by Korean companies or their securing long-term purchase agreements.
Korea Eximbank is supporting Korea obtaining economic security items by providing a total of 11 trillion won through the first quarter of this year via the Supply Chain Stabilization Fund established by the Korean government in 2024.
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