Seoul Business Summit starts to take shape

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By Kim Tong-hyung

The business community here is attempting to assure the Seoul global chief executives’ meeting truly becomes an extraordinary event, with or without Steve Jobs or Bill Gates.

Organizers of the G20 Seoul Business Summit have yet to receive confirmation from the two American technology gurus, or from iconic investor Warren Buffett, but they can still manage to claim that some of the planet’s most influential corporate minds will be roaming the halls of the Sheraton Walkerhill come November.

About 100 business leaders from around the world are expected to assemble in Seoul to discuss the priorities of the international business community and advise world leaders and finance ministers gathered for the G20 summit.

And the names booked on the flights to Seoul so far read like a who’s who list of the most powerful individuals in the global finance, industrial and technology sectors.

Representing the financial services industry in Seoul will be Deutsche Bank CEO Josef Ackermann, HSBC British Holdings Group Chairman Stephen Green, Standard Chartered CEO Peter Sands, Citigroup CEO Vikram Pandit, VISA Chairman Joseph Saunders and Nomura Holdings CEO Kenichi Watanabe.

Qualcomm Chairman Paul Jacobs, Nestle Chairman Peter Brabeck-Letmathe, Bosch Group Chairman Franz Fehrenbach, Infosys Technologies CEO Kris Gopalakrishnan, Total CEO Christophe de Margerie and China Southern Power Grid Chairman Zhao Jianguo have accepted their invitations as well, while SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won will lead the group of Korean participants.

There will be 15 seats reserved for Korean business leaders, a group led by Chey and Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Kun-hee, who is arguably the country’s most influential personality. Also participating in the business summit will be Hyundai Automotive Group Chairman Chung Mong-koo, LG Group Chairman Koo Bon-moo, Lotte Group Vice Chairman Shin Dong-bin, POSCO CEO Chung Joon-yang, GS Caltex Chairman Hur Dong-soo, Hyundai Heavy Industries Chairman Min Keh-sik, Hanjin Group Chairman Cho Yang-ho, KT Chairman Lee Suk-chae, Doosan Chairman Park Yong-hyun, Hanwha Group Chairman Kim Seung-youn, KB Financial Chairman Euh Yoon-dae, Kyobo Life Insurance Chairman Shin Chang-jae and Daewoo Securities Chairman Lim Ki-young.

The business summit is slated for Nov. 10 and 11 at the Sheraton Walkerhill hotel in northeastern Seoul, ahead of the G20 summit of world leaders scheduled for Nov. 11 and 12 at the COEX convention center in southern Seoul.

The agenda of the Seoul business summit will be divided into four main topics of jolting trade activity and investment; stabilizing financial systems; achieving “green” growth; and encouraging corporate social responsibility (CSR). The roundtable discussions will be followed by direct exchanges between business leaders and G20 political leaders. Also to be discussed is establishing the global business summit as a permanent part for future G20 summits, organizers said.

Chey has agreed to chair a roundtable session devoted to renewable energy and ``green’’ low-power technologies.

``The Seoul meeting will represent the first attempt to establish the business summit as the main source for private sector input for G20 meetings now and in the future. The business summit will play an important part in enhancing the credibility of the G20 as the primary global forum for economic policy,’’ said Oh Young-ho, the vice chairman of the Korea International Trade Association (KITA) and head of the business summit’s organizing committee, in a recent meeting with reporters.

``Inviting global CEOs is the hardest part of the process. The guest list is about 80 percent done, but for immensely influential personalities like Bill Gates, we will have to try up to the last minute,’’ he said.

The CEOs will clearly have the ears of G20 leaders as the private sector is set to undertake the crucial role in the efforts to strengthen the economic recovery as stimulus winds down.

The corporate leaders are expected to exchange views about the private sector’s role in securing a job-rich recovery and also advancing the discussions for liberalizing trade and investment. They will also obviously try to influence political leaders in their discussions for fiscal policies and financial sector reform.

Although the business summit is prepared as a platform for discussing global issues, Korean policymakers are also looking to use the event as an opportunity to endorse the country’s business environment and convince the corporate leaders to invest more here.

According to organizers, the CEOs will receive a presentation on the state of the Korean economy and investment conditions on Nov. 12, which is to be jointly prepared with the Ministry of Knowledge Economy.

``We are planning it to be like a short, investor relations (IR) presentation for the Korean economy, although the details haven’t been finalized yet,’’ said an official from the business summit’s organizing committee.

Despite the lengthy list of high-profilers, organizers admit that it would be a public relations (PR) letdown should Jobs and Gates ultimately decide not to show up.

``We will be waiting for the answers from Gates and Jobs until the last minute. We have to say that Gates is the more likely of the two to come to Seoul, as he has been more active in international events that offer him a platform to expand his charity-related work, and this is something we are definitely considering,’’ said the official from the organizing committee.