Cross-cultural communication urged
The winners and participants of the Korea CQ Awards pose after receiving prizes from the Corea Image Communication Institute (CICI) at Banyan Tree, Seoul, Tuesday. From left are Joris Dierckx, chief country officer of BNP Paribas Seoul; Francois Provost, CEO of Renault Samsung Motors; John Prasetio, Indonesian ambassador; Choi Jung-wha, president of CICI; Lee Nam-sik, president of Kaywon School of Art & Design; Gloria Pino, spouse of the Panamanian ambassador; and Aram Cisneros, Panamanian ambassador. / Courtesy of CICI
CICI honors dignitaries for graduating forum session
By Kim Ji-soo
Francois Provost, CEO of Renault Samsung Motors, and Lee Nam-sik, President of Kaywon School of Art & DesignCQ, jointly won the Korea CQ Grand Prize Tuesday.
The prize is given by Corea Image Communication Institute (CICI), to honor graduates of the Korea CQ Forum. The forum is held twice a year by CICI. CQ refers to five quotients — culture, cooperation, concentration and communication — which CICI President Choi Jung-wha sees as crucial to achieving success.
The awards were given at a graduation ceremony of the 15th session of the forum held at the Banyan Tree in Seoul, Tuesday.
Provost and Lee said the program enabled them to learn and rediscover Korean culture.
“It’s a great honor,” Provost said. “For me, CQ was an enriching experience where I had the chance to learn about Korean culture in a personal setting, not in a professional one.”
“I was a member of the Presidential Council on National Branding, and I think CQ does just as a good job or more in heightening the national image of Korea,” said Lee.
The awards and the graduation took place in concert with a “Panama Night” hosted by that country’s ambassador to Korea, Aram Cineros. “I believe that friendship between countries works just as friendship between people,” Cineros said. “To be friends, we need to know each other and, to know each other, we need to know the culture.” Cineros won the CQ Culture Award.
“This CQ forum graduation is different because I meant to provide a cross-cultural venue for communication,” CICI’s Choi said. “I believe ‘hallyu’ isn’t about a one-way provision of our culture. Others will understand our culture better when we make the same attempt to understand theirs.”
Jordanian Ambassador to Korea Omar Nahar won the CQ Communication Award and the CQ Concentration Award went to Joris Dierckx, chief country officer of BNP Paribas Seoul.
Christian Loucq, Director General of the International Vaccine Institute, won the Mysterious Man Award.
Ju Min-young, CEO of Wagle Interactive and Mike Kang, managing director of KAPAS, won Best Friend Awards.
The participants experienced Korean cuisine, Korean calligraphy and visited Korea’s representative slow city of Shinan. Rah Seung-yun, president of Oratio and former spokeswoman for the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Winter Games Bid Committee, gave a class on communication and presentation skills.
Some 80 people attended the forum, including Jean-Manuel Spriet, CEO of Pernod Ricard Korea, Joris Dierckx, chief country officer of BNP Paribas Seoul, and Park Moo-jong, president-publisher of The Korea Times.
Founded in 2003, CICI seeks to bring together opinion leaders residing in Korea to share cultural experiences and brainstorm innovative ways to promote Korea.
its image overseas. The organization’s role has begun to gain further momentum riding on the rapidly spreading hallyu throughout the world comprising various cultural aspects like popular songs, dramas, food and so on.
CICI has been seeking to make the most of the hallyu phenomenon in a bid to facilitate communications between Korea and other countries while polishing its image overseas.