Business lobbies from 11 Asian countries seek expansion of people-to-people exchanges

By Park Jae-hyuk

The Federation of Korean Industries (FKI) and the Japan Business Federation (Keidanren) jointly hosted the Asian Business Summit in Seoul, Wednesday, which was attended by representatives of 13 business associations from 11 Asian countries.

This is the first time in six years for the FKI to host the international event, which was hosted for the first time in 2010 by Keidanren to promote economic integration to achieve more growth in Asia and mutual prosperity.

Despite the recent geopolitical conflicts in the region, the business associations of China, Taiwan, India and six Southeast Asian countries participated in the summit. The FKI noted that the combined GDP of the countries where the participants came from amounts to $31.3 trillion, or 31.2 percent of global GDP and 82.8 percent of the total GDP of Asian nations.

During the opening ceremony, FKI Acting Chairman Kim Byong-joon suggested that Asian countries increase freedom of movement between countries.

“In order to revitalize personal exchanges, I would like to propose simplified immigration procedures using information technologies, designation of major Asian cities and tourist attractions as visa-free regions and a pilot project to start a visa-waiver program for businesspeople,” he said.

Keidanren Chairman Masakazu Tokura emphasized the need for solidarity among businesspeople of Asian nations, so as to cope with the growing calls by companies to achieve carbon neutrality and pursue a digital transformation.

In the following closed-door sessions, Samyang Holdings Chairman Kim Yoon reportedly mentioned the necessity of studies for Asian countries to share their supply chains for core materials, pointing out the fact that the global supply chain crisis has dealt severe blows to countries in the region, which serve as the world's factories.

Hitachi Chairman Toshiaki Higashihara said that Korea and Japan should integrate their digital infrastructures to help Asian countries achieve carbon neutrality, according to the FKI. The Korean business lobby also said that Poongsan Group Chairman Ryu Jin urged for an increase in the number of participants in the multilateral free trade agreement in the region.

Based on what they discussed at the summit, the participants adopted a joint statement.

In the statement, they mentioned the exchange of human resources as the top priority for the mutual prosperity of Asian nations. They also asked their countries to boost mutual cooperation so as to transition to a carbon-neutral world while supporting digital transformation, rules-based international economic order and supply-chain stability.