"Opportunity Development Zone Requires Support for Talent, Taxation, and Electricity Rates"

Kang Ki-jung Presents '3 Major Success Strategies' at Central Regional Cooperation Meeting

Gwangju Mayor Kang Gi-jung is presenting Gwangju's representative industries, artificial intelligence (AI), and future car policies at the '2024 Governors Policy Conference' held at the Four Seasons Hotel in Seoul on September 10.
[Photo by Gwangju City]

On the 6th, Gwangju Mayor Kang Gi-jung proposed at the ‘8th Central-Local Cooperation Meeting’ held at Gangwon Provincial Office that “to achieve the goal of relocating excellent companies to the Opportunity Development Zone, a special law containing three major support measures?talent support, tax distance grading system, and differentiated electricity tariff system?must be established and implemented.”

Mayor Kang emphasized, “The effect of talent support has already been proven in Gwangju,” adding, “Gwangju’s recent success in attracting world-class semiconductor fabless companies such as Aegisland is thanks to policies aimed at completing the talent development ladder.” He continued, “Since the effectiveness of talent development policies such as the AI Gifted High School, AI Military Academy, and GCC Military Academy, which Gwangju City and the government are jointly promoting, has been proven, the government should provide even greater support to nurture talent.”

Regarding the expansion of tax benefits in the Opportunity Development Zone, Mayor Kang stressed the introduction of the ‘tax distance grading system.’ The tax distance grading system mainly involves expanding tax benefits and financial support the farther companies relocate from the metropolitan area to promote regional balanced development, thereby achieving both national balanced development and regional economic independence simultaneously.

He also proposed actively considering the ‘differentiated electricity tariff system.’ Mayor Kang stated, “The Honam region is rich in eco-friendly renewable energy, but electricity demand is low,” and added, “The government should attract company relocations by making pre-investments in distributed energy source infrastructure such as ESS, focusing on existing and new industrial complexes.” He further requested, “Please consider the ‘differentiated electricity tariff system,’ where electricity is cheaper the closer the power production area is to the user geographically.”

The Central-Local Cooperation Meeting on that day was held to discuss policy support measures for the local era, including the four major special zones. About 40 people attended, including President Yoon Seok-yeol, Gwangju Mayor Kang Gi-jung, city and provincial governors, chairpersons of the four major local councils, the Prime Minister, and key ministers.

The meeting proceeded in the following order: ▲Report on the progress of the working-level council discussions ▲Report on policy support measures for the local era including the four major special zones (Local Era Committee) ▲Report on the plan to establish a local era venture fund (Ministry of SMEs and Startups) ▲Report on proposals for maintenance and utilization of vacant houses and closed school properties to respond to local extinction (Four Major Local Councils) ▲Comprehensive discussion ▲Report on legal system improvement measures to expand autonomy in local legislation (Ministry of Government Legislation, etc.) ▲Deliberation on standard labor costs and improvement measures for local council secretariat systems (Ministry of the Interior and Safety).

Meanwhile, with Gwangju designated as an Opportunity Development Zone on this day, the city plans to develop Bitgreen National Industrial Complex as a mobility sector special zone and the Advanced 3 District of Gwangju Research and Development Special Zone as an artificial intelligence (AI) sector special zone.

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