1. The First Industry-Government-Academia Forum on Economic Cooperation between the ROK and Hubei Province was held in Wuhan, China, on July 9-10 to help Korean companies increase their presence in the central region of China.

o From the ROK side, about 100 people attended the Forum, including Deputy Minister for Economic Affairs Ahn Chong-ghee, Consul-General in Wuhan Han Gwang-sup, Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA)’s regional director in China Ham Jeong-oh, Vice President of the Korea Institute for International Economic Policy (KIEP) Jeong Hyung-gon, and other key government officials and businessmen. From the Chinese side, around 80 key government officials and businessmen attended the Forum, including Vice-Governor of the Hubei Provincial People's Government Zhao Bin.

2. Wuhan, the capital city of Hubei Province, is a transportation hub in central China and a nucleus city that has grown rapidly at an average annual rate of some 17 percent over the past five years. It is also a strategic area that leads the Rise of Central China, one of regional development policies that China is pursuing in four regions.

3. The momentum for economic cooperation between the ROK and China is increasing after they agreed to work together to conclude a free trade agreement (FTA) within this year and open a won-yuan direct trading market during Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to the ROK on July 3-4. The latest Forum, held against this backdrop, is seen as the first case of institutionalizing cooperation between the ROK and central China, which is emerging as a new pillar of growth in China’s economic development.

o The ROK and Hubei Province agreed to hold the Forum every year.

4. Deputy Minister also had a meeting with Vice-Governor Zhao Bin and delivered congratulatory remarks at the opening ceremony of the Forum on July 9. On July 10, he met with Mayor of Wuhan Tang Liangzhi and decided to continue to closely cooperate to promote economic cooperation between the ROK and Hubei Province. The Deputy Minister also had a meeting with representatives of Korean companies in China on July 10. In the meeting, he explained the achievements made in the economic area during the latest ROK-China Summit and encouraged the Korean companies’ activities.

5. Meanwhile, KOTRA, jointly with the Korea Environmental Industry & Technology Institute, and the Department of Commerce and the Environmental Protection Bureau of Hubei Province, held the ROK-China Plaza for Strategic Partnership in Central China on July 10. At the event, IR meetings and consultations on partnership between Korean companies and Chinese institutional buyers were held.

6. Furthermore, KIEP, jointly with the Hubei Academy of Social Sciences, held a seminar under the theme “key development strategies of central China and the ROK-Hubei Province cooperation” on July 10. The two sides discussed ways to cooperate in four sessions on environmental cooperation, new urbanization, economic development policy and culture industry.

7. The Forum holds big significance in that it established a cooperative network for the first time with the central region of China and thereby supported Korean companies’ entry into China's central and western regions. The Forum was also meaningful in that the participants worked to create synergy by promoting active cooperation between Korean diplomatic missions in China, which are at the forefront of the ROK’s economic diplomacy toward China, and relevant agencies. The Foreign Ministry will continue to engage in such activities. 


               Spokesperson and Deputy Minister for Public Relations of MOFA

*unofficial translation