Economic Organizations Hit the Brakes on Second Half Schedule

Impact of COVID-19 Resurgence
Review of Cancellation for National Chamber of Commerce Chairpersons Meeting
FKCCI GBC Postponed to First Half of Next Year

Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry

[Asia Economy Reporter Dongwoo Lee] The resurgence of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) has abruptly disrupted the schedules of major domestic economic organizations for the second half of the year. Among the economic organizations that had already postponed their schedules once due to the COVID-19 pandemic in March, some are now canceling this year's events entirely.

According to the business community on the 26th, the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) is reviewing whether to cancel the National Chamber Presidents' Meeting scheduled to be held at the Lotte Hotel in Sogong-dong, Seoul, this October. The National Chamber Presidents' Meeting is an event attended by about 50 presidents of regional chambers, and it is one of the main schedules of the KCCI, which represents 150,000 businesspeople. This year's meeting was planned as the last regional chamber presidents' gathering during Park Yong-man's term as KCCI chairman, where opinions on the government's reform direction and economic situation were to be exchanged with the chamber presidents.

The KCCI plans to monitor the situation until mid-next month due to the recent resurgence and then make a final decision on the event schedule. A KCCI official said, "Since the possibility of the government implementing social distancing level 3 is being discussed, we will keep all options open and make a judgment."

The Federation of Korean Industries (FKI) has tentatively agreed to postpone the '2020 World Business Council (GBC) General Assembly,' originally scheduled to be held in Seoul this year, to the first half of next year. Earlier, in March, the FKI postponed the Seoul event to the second half of this year after consultations with major GBC member countries such as the United States, Europe, and Australia.

In a recent video conference with member countries, the FKI reportedly conveyed that the ongoing COVID-19 crisis in Argentina, the chair country, and the growing resurgence risk domestically make postponing the schedule unavoidable.

The Korea Federation of Small and Medium Business (Kbiz) is also deliberating whether to hold the 'Small and Medium Business Leaders Forum' scheduled from the 20th to the 23rd of next month in Jeju. Kbiz had previously decided in June to postpone the event by three months due to the impact of COVID-19.

Kbiz stated, "There is an internal sentiment that it may be difficult to proceed with the event if COVID-19 continues." Especially, even if the schedule is pushed forward, since gathering a large number of people is impossible, the focus is shifting toward either downsizing or postponing the event.

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