Dr. Sakong Il, chairman & CEO of the Korea International Trade Association (KITA), made the remarks when he met with executives of exporting firms in Daegu on April 23. He said: “As a resource-poor nation, Korea has no other choice but to rely on trade for survival. We should increase exports by responding in time to the global market trends, including changes in the Chinese domestic market.”
“If it has problems in its main engine, an aircraft can still fly with its auxiliary engine. China has recently played a role as such an auxiliary engine for the Korean economy. But since the occurrence of the current economic crisis, Korea, a country heavily dependent on trade, has received a severe blow, as both its main and auxiliary engines have not been properly operational,” he added.
Since April 8, Dr. Sakong, who was inaugurated as KITA Chairman in February, has visited major cities across the country to listen to local exporters' grievances and find solutions to their problems. He has so far visited Incheon, Cheongju, Daejeon, Busan, Changwon, Gwangju, Ulsan and Daegu. With a determination to contribute to surviving the economy, he has pledged to improve export competitiveness by cutting down on logistics expenses, increase exports by easing regulations, and seek economic recovery by implementing an appropriate financial policy.
When he met with local exporters and the mayor of Incheon in that city on April 8, Dr. Sakong said: “KITA will play an active role in finding solutions to problems facing export firms and expanding Korea's export market. Especially, I will relay small businesses' recommendations to the government, so that they can be implemented quickly.”
To increase the country's export competitiveness, KITA is providing Clean Consol (consolidation) service, a kind of package service aimed at drastically cutting logistics costs, including terminal service charges at bonded warehouses, for small importers by 15 to 50 percent in cooperation with warehouse operators.
Dr. Sakong went on to say: “The current environment is favorable to Korea. We should work out a long-term plan to increase exports of consumer goods and building materials and equipment to China, given its policy of economic stimulation. We should also seek a change in our country's structural trade deficit vis-avis Japan by inducing Japanese enterprises to build plants and invest here.”
He, meanwhile, reiterated the importance of expanding the export market and signing free trade pacts with many countries of the world, while pledging to actively support the ratification of the Korea-US FTA bill and the conclusion of FTAs with other countries. He then laid stress on deregulation, saying: “Now is the time for the government to drastically ease various regulations.”
He predicted that “Korea will outdistance many countries of the world in terms of financial policy implementation, if it spends more than 60 percent of a supplementary budget during the first half of this year. The country will also be able to recover the economy relatively faster than any other OECD member nations.”
