S. Korea Urges Chinese Firms to Expand Investment
By Ryu Jin
Staff Reporter
Chinese companies are urged to invest more in South Korea for a full-scale cooperative partnership between the two nations, a ranking government official in Seoul said on Friday.
Vice Minister of Commerce, Industry and Energy Oh Young-ho called for the Chinese enterprises to expand and strengthen their investment in South Korea in a meeting with business leaders from the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT) in Seoul
``Cooperation in investment areas is relatively dull when compared with the trade volume between the two countries, which mark the 15th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties this year,’’ he said at the breakfast meeting.
Oh added that Chinese enterprises could find various investment opportunities in South Korea since it could serve as a site for factories for final manufacturing processes as well as research and development (R&D) centers and its dynamic market could be a ``test bed’’ for their new products.
``We could see synergic effects mutually beneficial to both the countries if the Chinese government’s proactive strategy and the various investment opportunities in the South Korean market are combined,’’ he told the Chinese business leaders.
China has been the largest trade partner for South Korea since 2002. Bilateral trade has risen to $118 billion (109 trillion won) in 2006 from $6.37 billion in 1992, when the two nations formed the diplomatic relationship. Seoul and Beijing now aim to increase the trade volume to $200 billion by 2012.
China’s state-run and private companies have been expanding their overseas investment drastically in accordance with the country’s rapid economic growth in recent years. But their investment in South Korea remained at around $40 million, a mere 0.4 percent of the total, last year.
Officials from the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy said the meeting between the South Korean government and the CCPIT was held at the request of Chinese business leaders as well as the Chinese Embassy in Seoul.
Chinese Ambassador Ning Fukui and dozens of CCPIT executive officers, including its chief representative in South Korea Yang Pingan, attended the meeting, which was the first of its kind since the organization was set up in 2001.
Chinese business leaders asked for the South Korean government’s support for the Chinese companies, which have concerns about South Korea’s visa issuance procedures and the unstable labor-management relations.