ΆΓ  More Competitive Korea Creates Better Foreign Investment Climate

 KoreaTimes 2000.09.28

The Korean government has been implementing numerous industrial policies to help boost the efficiency and competitiveness of the local industry and this is creating an improved climate for foreign investment.

In a keynote speech at the Credit Lyonnais Securities Asia Investment Forum held at the Grand Hyatt Seoul yesterday, Commerce, Industry and Energy Minister Shin Kook-hwan said the new environment is also making Korea a generally easier country to do business in.

``By the same token, increased foreign investment will help Korea achieve its policy objectives more quickly and successfully,'' Shin told some 200 leading foreign investors.

Citing these as the main reasons why Korea has been so determined to improve its foreign investment climate, he noted that virtually all sectors of the economy is now opened to foreigners with wide-ranging incentive packages, including low-cost factory rentals and special tax benefits.

Moreover, Shin said, the growing prospects for inter-Korean economic cooperation offer new opportunities to foreign investors. ``The day may not be far off when foreign investors can operate throughout the Korean peninsula, utilizing, in particular, low-cost labor in the North.''

Pointing out the recent groundbreaking ceremony to rebuild a railway linking South and North Korea, Shin said such developments strengthen Korea's claim to be the commercial and logistical hub of Northeast Asia, providing easy access to some of the world's largest markets.

Perhaps owing to such exciting changes on the Korean peninsula, foreign direct investments in Korea has been increasing rapidly since the financial crisis of 1997.

FDI increased by 70 percent in 1999 and another record is expected this year with more foreign investments being made in Korea over the past two years than the two previous decades.