French firms urge gov't to communicate better

French commerce caption French Korean Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FKCCI) Chairman David-Pierre Jalicon speaks during the chamber’s annual economic seminar, Economic Forecasts 2019, at the Grand Ambassador Seoul Pullman Hotel in Seoul, Thursday. Courtesy of FKCCI

By Nam Hyun-woo

The Moon Jae-in administration needs to communicate more with French and other foreign companies about its controversial income-led and other economic policies, the head of the French business chamber said Thursday.

“We lack dialogue with the government,” French Korean Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FKCCI) Chairman David-Pierre Jalicon told The Korea Times on the sidelines of the FKCCI's annual economic seminar, Economic Forecasts 2019, in Seoul.

“We understand and respect a lot of structural reform in Korea, but there are uncertainties and we need to organize ourselves in the progress of implementation,” Jalicon said.

“We need dialogue with the current government to find the best way to implement those reforms without damaging the business sentiment too much and to make sure it's not something which can be seen as a little bit of worry.”

His remarks were aimed at the Moon government's income-led policy, highlighted by the statutory minimum wage hike and a 52-hour-per-week limit on working hours. Jalicon said that those regulations were still ambiguous, thus foreign firms needed clarification through dialogue.

His remarks were supported by FKCCI Economic Department Head Michel Drobniak, who delivered a negative view on Korea's economy for this year, especially on Moon's income-led policy.

“The (Korean) government remains committed to its income-led growth agenda and there is no major change in that direction,” Drobinak said. “To question that was it helpful for the economy, I think the answer was rather no, given the slow domestic consumption, and weak employment figures.”

Jalicon said the FKCCI and its members know that Korea is the “champion of foreign direct investment (FDI) and should remain so” and rebound from the current economic slowdown, but it is doubtful whether French or other foreign firms looking for opportunities in Korea will feel the same.

“Thanks to experiences here, we all know that Korea has strong fundamentals to recover from the slowdown, But how about newcomers?” Jalicon said.

“The relevant information from the Korean government is not enough to feel confident to start the first investment. We need more help from the government to communicate and say 'we're in a bit of trouble now, but on the long term, we have the fundamentals to overcome that.'”

More than 70 officials from French companies in Korea attended the seminar at the Grand Ambassador Seoul Pullman Hotel in Jung-gu, Seoul. Along with Drobniak, Societe Generale Chief Economist Oh Suk-tae and Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy's Europe Trade Division Director Song Ju-ho provided presentations.