Lee Hee-bum, minister of commerce, industry and energy The Year of the Dog opened with great hope. I wish all of you good luck throughout the year. In particular, I deliver my New Year greetings to all Koreans working in the overseas trade, industrial sectors. Last year, the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy (MOCIE) exerted best efforts to recover the vitality of the national economy and make the nation an advanced industrial powerhouse. Thanks to efforts and ardor of all Korean people, we achieved considerable results and regained hope for the bright future. Despite difficult conditions both at home and abroad, Korea continued its strong exports and finally surpassed $500 billion in the trading volume for the 12th in the world. It represents more than 1,000 times the $500 million recorded in 1963 in trading volume. Along with this, large and small & medium-sized companies joined together last year, seeking a win-win strategy for mutual survival. It will be an important key for the Korean economy to attain the bright future of the Korean economy. Through the policy for the nation's balanced development being propelled by the Participatory Government since its inauguration, regional industries have gradually gained vitality. At the same time, we exerted all-out efforts to find out and foster new growth engines and carried out a strategy for development of the parts & material industry. As a result, we could build a firm foothold where the nation's parts & material industry can develop into a supply base to the world. Amid an unprecedented surge in oil prices, we supplied energy resources stably for industrial development and stabilization of people's life through close cooperation with resources-rich countries. Despite various results we attained last year, the Korean economy still has many problems to be solved. The recovering pace of the domestic consumption is slow and business sentiment felt by ordinary people, small and medium-sized companies and self-employed persons is still difficult. As the minister in charge of actual economy, I, along with MOCIE officials, will make best efforts to build a foundation for the nation to rank in the world's top four in industry and top eight in trade before 2008. Recently, the Korean economy is showing signs of recovery in many sectors, including consumption and investment. Related to this, we will actively push for a policy to activate investment according to characteristics of industries and future development vision. Through the investment activation policy, we will create more jobs, especially for young people. Excellent industrial environment is very important to make domestic enterprises those with sound financial status and powerful competitiveness. We will strive to improve industrial environment this year. In line with this, we will encourage enterprises to strengthen their R&D systems and bolster systems for protection of intellectual property rights, while actively fostering industrial manpower. Along with this, we will continue fostering the nation's growth industries, including automobiles and electronics. In the next-generation growth engine sectors, we will preoccupy the future market through early industrialization, maximizing the "Blue Ocean" effects. Unfortunately, world-famous experts and institutions anticipate that high oil prices will continue this year. To tide over such difficulties, we will expand overseas resources development and jack up the energy self-supply ratio to over 10%, while making best efforts for development of new & reproductive energy. In 2006, we will make a strong push for the nation to enter the "era of $1 trillion in trade at an early date. To do so, we should expand conclusions of free trade agreement (FTA) with more foreign countries and actively participate in the World Trade Organization (WTO) system. Also, we will create favorable managerial climate in which foreign enterprises can advance into the nation freely in keeping with the nation's trading volume standing at the 10th in the world. Once again, I wish all of you good health and happiness in the New Year.