November 21, 2024

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South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol speaks during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum's CEO Summit at the Moscone Center in San Francisco in November, 2023. (Yonhap)

The Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry, a major South Korean business lobby, said on Thursday it launched a task force to prepare for business leaders’ meetings to be held on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit scheduled to take place here next year.

As the 2025 APEC chair, Korea is expected to serve as a bridge between developed and developing economies among 21 member countries, facilitating economic and technological cooperation and capacity building related to current global issues such as supply chain resilience, digital innovation and the climate crisis.

As the secretariat of the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC) for Korea, the KCCI will take the lead in organizing major events for the business community during APEC Economic Leaders’ Week, including the ABAC Dialogue with Leaders and the APEC CEO Summit.

"As a new order of geopolitical conflict and nationalism is taking hold in the global market, APEC, as an organization that responds to global issues through multilateral cooperation, will be an important turning point for our businesses to explore new avenues," said KCCI Executive Vice Chairman Park Il-jun.

"We will do our utmost to mobilize our international networking capabilities to ensure that we set the global standard as the world's most advanced trading economy, and host the largest events ever in APEC history for business leaders to deliver tangible results,” he said.

ABAC is a private-sector advisory body that meets four times a year to deliver recommendations from business leaders to their respective governments, such as removing trade barriers.

ABAC working groups conduct in-depth discussions on international trade issues and share their progress at high-level intergovernmental meetings to build a close public-private partnership system.

The ABAC Dialogue with Leaders is a key event organized by the business community during APEC Leaders' Week, bringing together APEC leaders and ABAC members to discuss private-sector issues related to regional trade and commerce.

The KCCI will also host the 2025 APEC CEO Summit, the signature business leaders' event during the APEC Leaders' Week. It is expected to provide an opportunity to discuss the economic transformation agenda and expand business cooperation in new industries through high-level themed lectures and discussions.

APEC is an organization for economic integration in the Asia-Pacific region, accounting for approximately 62.2 percent of the world's GDP and 50.7 percent of its total trade. Exports to APEC accounted for 76.8 percent of Korea’s total exports, and investment in APEC constituted 58.6 percent of its total investment in 20.

By Park Han-na (hnpark@heraldcorp.com)