Chairman Koo Ja-yeol Meets with Blue House Policy Chief: "Government Must Lead in Accelerating Supply Chain Restructuring"

Ahead of the meeting on the 14th, Korea International Trade Association Chairman Koo Ja-yeol (center), Blue House Policy Chief Lee Ho-seung (right), and Senior Secretary for Economic Affairs Ahn Il-hwan (left) are taking a commemorative photo.

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeong Hyunjin] Koo Ja-yeol, Chairman of the Korea International Trade Association (KITA), and Lee Ho-seung, Chief of Policy Office at the Blue House, met on the 14th at the Trade Tower in Samseong-dong, Seoul.

According to KITA, Chairman Koo and Chief Lee held a meeting that day and discussed trade and commerce issues for about an hour. This meeting was initiated by the Blue House, which proposed it to KITA. It was arranged following President Moon Jae-in’s directive to his aides to actively communicate with the business community. Recently, Chief Lee also met with Chey Tae-won, Chairman of the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and Kim Ki-moon, Chairman of the Korea Federation of SMEs.

At the meeting, Chairman Koo stated, "Recently, the United States and the European Union (EU) have prioritized stabilizing semiconductor and battery supply chains and attracting domestic production facilities, accelerating movements to reorganize supply chains among major countries." He added, "Since individual companies face limitations in responding, we must consider industrial and trade innovation strategies at the government level to secure competitiveness in key industries, and the public and private sectors should communicate closely to prepare proactive response measures."

He also requested special government attention regarding the difficulties export companies face in human and material movement due to COVID-19 and the recent Suez Canal incident.

In response, Chief Lee said, "Since the second half of last year, exports have been driving our economic recovery. I appreciate KITA’s active efforts to alleviate export companies’ difficulties caused by COVID-19, such as operating special charter flights, the businesspeople immigration support center, and the export-import logistics response center." He continued, "We will seriously review the opinions conveyed by KITA and provide responses," adding, "I will also actively participate in future business meetings hosted by the association to listen to the trade industry's opinions."

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