KITA foresees record export year

Sakong Il

Sakong Il, the chairman of Korea International Trade Association, said yesterday that the country was heading for its best ever export year, while total trade will recover to the level before the global financial crisis that began in 2008.

“We expect our export figures to be $445 billion and our import figures to be $424.7 billion,” said Sakong in a press conference at the Grand InterContinental Hotel in Samseong-dong, southern Seoul.

“This will be possible due to the fast economic recovery in emerging markets such as China and the rapid growth of our strong export industry.”

Five industries, including semiconductor, shipping, auto, display screens and oil, accounted for 46.8 percent of total exports in the first half of this year. According to KITA, developing countries were responsible for 71.9 percent of exports.

In explaining how Korea stayed strong in spite of tough global conditions, Sakong said, “Although the world economy struggled last year, our companies went through tough restructuring and developed new markets that produced great results.”

KITA will continue to support the business sector in spite of several unsolved difficulties, including the European debt crisis and the slow economic recovery in advanced countries, he said.

As one example, KITA recently provided its employees with smartphones because the organization wants to be a leader in new trends and to be able to evolve with technological changes, Sakong said.

In addition, KITA has announced the introduction of a Mobile Office Environment and podcast services.

Sakong, who heads the coordinating committee for the G-20 meeting in Seoul in November, said the meeting will provide an opportunity to “present our agenda to the 20 most influential countries.

Korea will be the perfect bridge between emerging countries and advanced countries because we know the hardships of both sides.”

He said the summit was expected to address the issue of how businesses could support a global economic recovery as the government exits from aggressive stimulus spending that has been the main prop for growth in the last two years. “For this, we will invite up to five top chief executive officers from each country and from some non-G-20 countries and provide the G-20 members with their collective recommendations.”

By Jung Seung-hyun [seungjung@joongang.co.kr]