Chairman Chey Tae-won: "The Key to Solving Regional Extinction Lies with Companies"

KCCI and Ministry of the Interior and Safety Co-host '2023 Regional Economy Forum'
"When Businesses Settle, Jobs Increase and People Gather"

Choi Tae-won, Chairman of the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Chairman of SK Group), expressed the view that companies can play a key role in solving the issue of regional extinction, which has emerged as a national task.

On the 18th, at the opening remarks of the '2023 Regional Economy Forum' jointly hosted by the Ministry of the Interior and Safety and the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry at Seoul National University Siheung Campus Convention Center, Chairman Choi said, "Companies are an important pillar of the regional economy."

On the 18th, Choi Tae-won, Chairman of the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry, delivered a greeting at the '2023 Regional Economy Forum' held at Seoul National University Siheung Campus in Siheung-si, Gyeonggi Province.
[Photo by Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry] [Image source=Yonhap News]

Chairman Choi emphasized, "From a businessperson's perspective, I believe the key to solving pressing issues such as regional extinction lies with companies that lead economic development. When growing companies settle in regions and create many quality jobs, people will gather and it will become a place to live."

He stated that to solve regional problems and create a foundation where companies can take root, a 'three major transformations' in direction, method, and mindset must be achieved.

Chairman Choi said that now is the time to practice bottom-up approaches led by the private sector rather than top-down policies driven by the central government, suggesting, "Policies should break away from uniform, centrally focused methods and create differentiated systems for local governments to promote competition."

He also pointed out that "it is true that individual approaches that design support policies based on cases or issues have had limited effectiveness even with financial input," and stressed the need to shift methods to a 'mega sandbox' that provides a bundle of policies necessary for corporate investment to create synergy effects.

He added, "Until now, there has been considerable thinking about how to move companies from the crowded metropolitan area to empty regions. However, just as a half-filled glass can be seen differently depending on perspective, regions should be viewed not as empty but as having ample space, and there is a need to consider how to newly fill that space."

At the forum, Minister of the Interior and Safety Lee Sang-min, Chairman Choi, Seoul National University President Yoo Hong-rim, along with regional economic experts, businesspeople, and local government officials, gathered to share opinions under the theme of 'Building Regional Economies Together: The Roles of Companies and Government.'

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