Korean business leaders on Wednesday requested President Park Geun-hye to engage in more summit-level "economy diplomacy," saying her recent visits to Iran and Mexico were of great help to firms here striving to tap into overseas markets.
They delivered the message in a meeting with Park to pool ideas on boosting economic cooperation abroad. More than 300 business leaders attended the session.
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President Park Geun-hye (Yonhap) |
They include the heads of five major business lobby groups -- the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI), the Korea International Trade Association, the Federation of Korean Industries, the Korea Federation of SMEs and the Association of High Potential Enterprises of Korea.
Park stressed the need for local companies to develop globally competitive products and make aggressive efforts to do business in foreign countries.
The other participants agreed to the importance of exploring fresh lucrative markets and pointed out that the president can play a key role herself as shown in the accomplishments during her trips to Tehran earlier this month and Mexico City in April.
"It's the very international market where a sheet of MOU, let alone a contract, is not easily signed and battles without gunfire are staged," Park Yong-maan, leader of the KCCI, said, using the acronym for memorandum of understanding. "It's highly significant that the president comes to the fore and opens the way for (new) businesses via summit talks with foreign counterparts."
He asked Park to push for more active economy diplomacy with such positive effects in mind.
In fact, Park's landmark visit to Iran led to the signing of 27 MOUs on joint economic projects valued at $37.1 billion. A major task is to effectively implement the accords that are not legally binding.
Accompanying Park, a large-scale business delegation also had opportunities for a number of high-profile meetings with potential business partners in the Middle Eastern nation.
Members of the delegation described it as another benefit from summit diplomacy.
"Through my participation in the delegation this time, (my company) is pushing for $200,000 worth of exports to the Iranian jewelry market, dominated by Italian and other European firms," said Kim Jeong-ju, president of local jewelry maker Mucha.
Kim cited the excellent designs of Korean goods and growing popularity of K-culture.
Jeon Sang-hun, who is in charge of the policy planning office at Seoul National University Bundang Hospital in Seongnam, just south of Seoul, voiced optimism about medical partnerships between Korea and Iran.
"The number of Iranian doctors per a population of 10,000 is 5.96 and that of hospital beds is 19.6," he said. "The MOU on constructing hospitals in Iran, based on experience in Saudi Arabia, can be conducive to a new growth engine in the bio-health industry."
The local business community also expects closer economic ties with Mexico in the wake of Park's trip there in April.
She reached a summit deal with her Mexican counterpart Enrique Pena Nieto to resume formal talks on a free trade agreement and also secured Mexico's support for Korea's intent to join the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact.
The two sides inked a total of 34 MOUs on economic cooperation during Park's tour."We recommended that the government expand financial support so that those MOUs, signed in summit diplomacy in Iran and Mexico, can lead to actual contracts," the five business lobby groups said in a joint press release.Trade Minister Joo Hyung-hwan announced that the government will hold an inter-agency meeting to review the implementation of the MOUs.
His ministry also plans to launch a task force, named "Iran Mega Project Team," to help resolve issues in the process of carrying out the tentative deals.
"The government will strengthen the support system for spreading the effects of the summit diplomacy results," Joo said. (Yonhap)
