FKI S-N Committee opens door to foreign firms

The nation`s business community is speeding up activities to boost foreign interest in projects for inter-Korean economic cooperation. The Federation of Korean Industries (FKI), a lobbying group of conglomerates, decided Thursday to drastically expand its Committee on Inter-Korean Trade and Investment and also to admit foreign business groups, including the American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) as members.

The decision to reorganize the committee in preparation for the activation of South-North economic cooperation was made in the second meeting of committee members at the FKI building in Seoul.

Under the reorganizing plan, the committee established six new subcommittees. Of the six, three will be in charge of textiles, construction and investment in the North, and the three others are subpanels of AmCham, the European Union Chamber of Commerce in Korea (EUCCK) and the Seoul-Japan Club.

As committee chairman Chang Chi-Hyeok, chairman of Kohap Corporation, expressed his intention to resign, FKI chairman Kim Kak-Choong will assume the chairmanship. In recognition of his contributions to the promotion of inter-Korean economic cooperation, Chang was inaugurated as a special advisor to the new chairman.