WCC Held at KOEX

The second World Chambers Congress (WCC), with a goal to find a way to cooperate with other countries, has begun on 7th for two days at the KOEX in Samsungdong, Seoul. Some 1,200 businessmen from 90 countries have participated in. The conference was jointly sponsored by the Korea Chamber of Commerce & Industry (KCCI) and the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC).

President Kim Dae-Jung gave a congratulatory speech at the opening ceremony saying, ``I would like this conference to be a starting point for the world economy’s consistent growth.`` ``I would like each country’s chamber of commerce to help North Korea to be a responsible part of the international society``, he requested.

Jifei Wang, the deputy chairman of Chinese International Trade Promotion Committee, said, ``China is expected to join the WTO at the end of this year or early next year. And if China joins the WTO, the trade between Korea and China will be greatly increased.``

ICC Secretary General Maria Livanos Cattaui commented on the absence of Pyungyang Chamber of Commerce, ``we are sorry for them not to participate in, despite of our continuous contacts with them. But we will try our best to bring in North Korea next time.``

After the opening ceremony, WCC held divided sessions to talk about the issues on development of an industry support system that fits to the information era, a plan to construct shared networks among chambers of commerce in different countries, a plan to support small and mid-sized enterprises, and chambers’ part in business arbitration.

Especially, on 8th, they will mainly discussed on the plan to develop an international e-business network based on the database of 0.3 million domestic enterprises.

KCCI is to record and broadcast the contents of conference through the internet to boast Korea’s advanced information technology. They are also to publicize about Korea’s travel industry through Korea National Tourism Organization (KNTO) and the 2002 World Cup.

Koo Ja-Ryong bonhong@donga.com