Update: Korean government to send Special Envoy to Canada ahead of a decision on CPSP
I promise everyone I am not on the Korean governments payroll
Just as soon as news drops people like to make me outdated. Once again I am needed to provide an update. If you remember last week I reported that the Korean government was reportedly set to announce retired 4-star general, former deputy commander of the ROK-US Combined Forces, and senior member of Korea's ruling Democratic Party Kim Byung-joo as Special Envoy to Canada.
Well now we have some official confirmation as the Presidents office announced that Kim, alongside Rep. Maeng Seong-gyu and Rep. Kim Joo-young would be visiting Canada from the 22nd to the 27th this week.
To quote the Korean government, the team will:
“Meet with key Canadian government officials to convey our government’s intention to further develop the “comprehensive strategic partnership” between the two countries, focusing on cooperation in areas such as security, defense industry, and energy, and to exchange opinions on specific cooperation plans.”
The general thought going around right now if that there will be a serious push to award a contract for CPSP next year, and as such efforts are ramping up to build momentum for respective bids.
There was no mention of who exactly would be met, but its expected that these high-level officials will include Minister of National Defence David Mcguinty, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry of Canada Mélanie Joly, and Commander of the Royal Canadian Navy Vice-Admiral Angus Topshee.
The obvious focus here in on CPSP but there is a renewed effort to include other platforms, such as the K9 and TA-50 into the conversation. The Korean government also seems keen to expand on the Canadian-Korean LNG relationship, the first of which arrived in Korea the other week from LNG Canada.
There is a lot upcoming in the next few months. The expectation is we will see several new agreements signed between now and November including ones related to training & technology sharing in the shipbuilding industry, supply chain cooperation, and information sharing.
There is also a defence roadshow scheduled for October still, where Korean and Canadian companies will get the chance to network with each other and finalize cooperation agreements. That is an event I will try to get to if I can.
The expectation is that an RFP will drop within the next couple weeks. Team One Korea sent out an unsolicited proposal back in May that will form the basis for their wider proposal for CPSP.
The Korean proposal reportedly will include the establishment of new maintenence facilities on both Coasts, a yet to be disclosed training package, the establishment of a Land Based Test facility on the East Coast, local battery production, Tech Transfer, and Canadian company access to the K-Defence supply chain & future projects.
We will likely hear more of this package once the RFP drops and everyone starts to throw out theor game plans.
At least thats my hope.