KITA (Chairman: Jin-Sik Yoon) co-hosted the 25th Conference on Korea-Japan Trade in New Industries with the Korea - Japan Economic Association and the Japan - Korea Economic Association on Thursday, 13 March at Lotte Hotel in downtown Seoul.
This Conference first kicked off in 1999 and serves as a platform for discussing pressing economic issues and areas of cooperation with economic associations of the two countries, which take the initiative for such discussions. The Conference also aims to ponder on opportunities for creating mutually beneficial values in new industries. This year's Conference was held under the theme of "The 60th anniversary of the normalisation of diplomatic ties between Korea and Japan - for a broader and deeper bilateral partnership" and approximately 70 people from the government, academic and the private sector attended the Conference.
KITA Executive Vice Chairman In-ho Lee, who also serves as the representative from the Korea side mentioned, "This year marks the 60th anniversary of the normalisation of bilateral diplomatic ties and the two countries have closely cooperated for growth in various areas, including economy, culture, people-to-people exchanges to name a new." He also stressed, "We should put our heads together to seek solutions to issues that cannot be resolved and attained by one country alone, including low birth rates, ageing, securing future-oriented energy sources and decarbonisation, and welcome new perspectives, ideas to find clever solutions".
Chairman Aso Yutaka, the Chairperson of Aso Cement, who also serves as the representative from the Japanese side mentioned in his opening remarks, "At an age of global instability, Japan and Korea should expand cultural and people-to-people exchanges based on mutual understanding and overcome risks". The Chairperson also highlighted, "Businesspeople from both countries should take full advantage of friendlier ties forged over the recent couple of years and not miss out on this golden opportunity and produce tangible results".