At the end of next month, during President Yoon Suk-yeol's state visit to the United States, the Federation of Korean Industries (FKI) will dispatch an economic delegation to the U.S. as representatives of economic organizations nationwide. Marking the 70th anniversary of the Korea-U.S. alliance, efforts are being made to strengthen private sector economic cooperation, and it is expected that the heads of major domestic conglomerates will all participate.
On the 29th, the FKI announced on its website the '2023 U.S. Economic Delegation Recruitment Notice' and is accepting applications from participating companies. Official participation request letters have also been sent to member companies. The delegation will be dispatched to Washington D.C. from the 24th to the 28th of next month to enhance Korea-U.S. private economic cooperation on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the Korea-U.S. alliance. Applications will close on the 3rd of next month.
The planned main events for the U.S. economic delegation include the Korea-U.S. Advanced Industry Business Forum and signing ceremonies for memorandums of understanding (MOUs) in the advanced industry and energy sectors. The Korea-U.S. Advanced Industry Business Forum is hosted by the FKI and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Businesspeople and government officials from both countries will attend. At this event, cooperation strengthening and business networking in advanced industries and new growth sectors, including semiconductors and batteries, will be promoted.
Under the auspices of the FKI, MOU signing ceremonies for cooperation between companies (B2B) and between companies and governments (B2G) in the advanced industry and energy sectors will also be held. Additionally, a Korea-U.S. cluster roundtable event is scheduled in a city near Washington D.C. This event is hosted by the Small and Medium Business Technology Information Promotion Agency and the Korea Startup Promotion Agency, with participation from tech-sector ventures, startups, and venture capital firms.
This is the first time in seven years since 2016 that the FKI is organizing an economic delegation in connection with the president's state visit to the U.S. After the 2016 political scandal, the FKI's status sharply declined, and it was unable to act as the leading economic organization. During former President Moon Jae-in's visit to the U.S. in 2017, the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry led the economic delegation.
However, the atmosphere completely changed this year when Acting Chairman Kim Byung-joon, who was involved in the current administration's launch in February, joined. The FKI began a rapid image improvement and organizational reform, striving to enable companies to actively utilize the solid networks it has built with the global economic sectors of countries such as the U.S. and Japan to create synergy with the government and businesses.
The FKI also co-hosted the Korea-Japan Business Roundtable (BRT) event with the Japan Business Federation (Keidanren) on the 17th, coinciding with President Yoon's visit to Japan. The FKI succeeded in gathering the heads of the four major conglomerates who had not rejoined as members since the political scandal. At that Korea-Japan BRT, along with President Yoon, the top five business leaders in the industry attended: Lee Jae-yong, Chairman of Samsung Electronics; Chey Tae-won, Chairman of SK Group; Chung Eui-sun, Chairman of Hyundai Motor Group; Koo Kwang-mo, Chairman of LG Group; and Shin Dong-bin, Chairman of Lotte Group.
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