Chairman Choi Tae-won's Peru Business Anecdote Introduction... "Gaining Knowledge for Future Challenges"

Yonhap News

Choi Tae-won, Chairman of the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry, attended the '2024 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) CEO Summit' held at the National University Theater in Lima, Peru, where he shared anecdotes about his business in Peru.

On the 16th, after receiving the chairmanship of next year's APEC CEO Summit from Fernando Zavala, Chairman of the Peru CEO Summit, Chairman Choi said in his greeting, "Many people may not know, but I have been doing business in this country for over 20 years."

He continued, "I started an energy project called 'Camisea' here in 2004," adding, "It was a very challenging business and a truly difficult project."

Camisea is a gas field located in the Cusco region of Peru. It is primarily operated by Argentina's Pluspetrol, and SK Innovation holds shares along with Hunt Oil from the United States and Repsol from Spain.

The natural gas produced here is liquefied into liquefied natural gas (LNG) by a consortium including SK, Hunt Oil, Royal Dutch Shell, and Japan's Marubeni.

Chairman Choi said, "The biggest challenge was transporting this gas over the Andes Mountains, at an altitude exceeding 4,000 meters, and no one believed it was possible. However, now our gas accounts for more than 60% of Peru's energy."

He added, "Through this experience, we gained knowledge on how to solve future challenges and came to truly love Peru. This year's summit featured many important discussions and was filled with various ideas for the future, just as I was 20 years ago."

Chairman Choi also introduced the theme and plans for the next summit to be held in October next year in Gyeongju. He stated, "We plan to lead communication under the theme of Bridge, Business, Beyond (B·B·B)."

B·B·B means that private sector technology and wisdom serve as a bridge connecting different societies, businesses lead innovation, and together we can move toward a better (Beyond) future.

The APEC CEO Summit is held annually as a side event of the APEC Leaders' Meeting, and this year's event was held over two days from the 15th under the theme "People, Business, Prosperity."