SK Innovation vice chairman visits Poland

SK Innovation Vice Chairman Kim Jun visited Poland to ask for the country's support for Korea's bid to host the 2030 World Expo in Busan and to discuss the renewable energy business, the company said Thursday.

SK Innovation Vice Chairman Kim Jun, left, and Waldemar Grzegorz Buda, the Minister of Development and Technology of Poland, pose for a photo during a meeting held in Warsaw, Poland, Tuesday. [SK INNOVATION]

SK Innovation Vice Chairman Kim Jun visited Poland to ask for the country’s support for Korea’s bid to host the 2030 World Expo in Busan and to discuss the renewable energy business, the company said Thursday.

Kim met with Waldemar Grzegorz Buda, the Minister of Economic Development and Technology of Poland in Warsaw on Tuesday, local time, with SK IE Technology (SKIET) CEO Rho Jae-sok in attendance.

“Busan Expo is planned to be a platform to solve many challenges that the world is facing today, such as the climate crisis, together,” said Kim during the Tuesday meeting. “As Poland and SK share the same vision in regards to the environment and future energy, the Busan Expo, which will focus on sustainable development worldwide, will serve as a good opportunity for both Poland and SK.”

Busan is competing against Saudi Arabia’s Riyadh and Italy’s Rome in a bid to host the World Expo.

SK’s green energy business in the country was also discussed during the meeting.

“We appreciate the Polish government’s attention and support on SK’s investment projects in Poland,” said Kim, and added that the company will “positively review additional investments in the country.”

Minister Buda promised to “actively support the Korean companies that are ramping up investments in future energy sectors such as the electric vehicle, which Poland is currently focusing on.”

SK companies — SKIET, SK Nexilis, SK hynix and SKC — invested $2.6 billion in Poland so far and are currently running manufacturing plants and research organizations in the country.

After the meeting with the minister, Kim visited SKIET’s lithium-ion battery separator production plant in Silesia, Poland. SKIET, 61 percent owned by SK Innovation, specializes in making lithium-ion battery separators for electric cars. The company plans to pour 2.2 trillion won ($1.7 billion) by 2024 to secure a production capacity of 1.54 billion square meters per year from the current 680 million square meters.

BY SHIN HA-NEE [shin.hanee@joongang.co.kr]