Five economic organizations, including the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry, will hold their annual summer forums on Jeju Island and in cities around the country this year despite the MERS outbreak that is sweeping the country.
The five organizations within the Korea International Trade Association (KITA), the Federation of Korean Industries (FKI), the Korea Federation of SMEs (KBIZ), and the Korea Employers’ Association (KEA) said in a statement on June 11 that they will go forward with their annual events this summer as planned, despite the MERS outbreak that aroused fears among the people, causing cuts in both consumption and investments, negatively impacting the nation’s economy.
“We ought to check the health and safety conditions and go ahead with whatever events have been scheduled before the outbreak of the deadly disease,” the statement said.
They also said the people around the country should overcome fear and return to their normal activities with a promise that the economic organizations will do their best to minimize the impact on the economy from the disease without being shaken up by the fear of MERS.
KBIZ will hold its leadership forum at Hyundai Hotel in Gyeongju with a theme of “Small and Medium Enterprises Secure New Dreams at Gyeongju, Thousands of Years Old Ancient Capital.” KCCI and FKI will hold forums on Jeju Island and in Pyeongchang, respectively, from July 22-25 this year. KCCI’s Jeju Forum will be held at Shilla Hotel in Jeju with a theme of “Insight and Healing on Jeju” with a number of featured speakers led by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Strategy and Finance Choi Kyung-hwan. Other invited speakers include Futurist Thomas Frey, Prof. Chang Ha-joon of Cambridge University, Rupert Fugiwolf, a founder of the Chinese version of Forbes and former Major League Pitcher Park Chan-ho, among others.
The FKI will hold its forum in Pyeongchang, the venue for 2018 Winter Olympics, at the Alpensia Resort, with a theme of “The Future Already Started and Design It with Reform.” Many CEOs of large firms in Korea are expected to come to the resort for the event this year as they did in years past.
KITA and the Korea Management Association will also hold their annual events as planned, the Summer CEO Seminars, on Jeju Island despite the MERS outbreak.
The Korea Standards Association will hold its Summer CEO Seminar at Lotte Hotel in Jeju from July 28-Aug. 1 with a theme of “Reform for the Future,” with Gov. Won Hee-ryong of the Jeju Special Self-Governing Province as a featured speaker, President Cho Hwan-eik of the Korea Electric Power Corp. and First Deputy Minister Choo Hyung-hwan of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy are among the invited guests at the event.
KCCI officials said many events scheduled by key organizations and local self-governing organizations in local regions have been either cancelled or postponed in the wake of the MERS outbreak, which has caused lots of damage to the economy, “and we will slowly take measures to recover from the fears and hold the projects and events scheduled long before the outbreak to normalize the economic activities as soon as possible.”
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