Martial Arts, Hosts '2020 Trade and Industry Forum'

[Asia Economy Reporter Hwang Yoon-joo] The Korea International Trade Association and the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy held the '2020 Trade and Industry Forum' on the 21st at the InterContinental Seoul COEX Hotel in Samseong-dong.

Co-chaired by Kim Young-joo, Chairman of the Trade Association, and Sung Yun-mo, Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy, the meeting was attended by 22 participants including Jin Gyo-young, President of Samsung Electronics, Song Ho-sung, President of Kia Motors, Kang Ho-gap, Chairman of the Korea Federation of Medium-sized Enterprises, as well as key export companies, economic organization leaders, and trade experts, who discussed the recent trade environment surrounding Korea and response strategies.

In his opening remarks, Chairman Kim said, "As the impact of COVID-19 is expected to continue in the second half of the year, our companies face both challenges and opportunities, having to respond to traditional protectionist measures while not falling behind in the regulation of the digital domain." He emphasized, "In particular, the recent global trend of protectionism is expanding beyond existing trade remedy measures to new areas such as environment and labor, so the public and private sectors must proactively cooperate and communicate to minimize damage to our industries."

He continued, "As the transition to a digital economy and untact activities become normalized, Korea should play a leading role (Rule-setter) in establishing global digital trade norms," adding, "Moving forward from past manufacturing-centered trade strategies, we must also prepare linkage plans between the service industry, which has high growth potential and job creation effects, and trade."

On the same day, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy announced the 'Post-COVID New Trade Strategy' and decided to build a close public-private cooperation system. Additionally, forum participants held discussions on trade issues specific to companies, including import regulations of major importing countries and supply chain changes after the COVID-19 pandemic.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.