Kim Yoon (left), co-chairman of the Korea-Japan Economic Association and chairman of Samyang Holdings, shakes hands with his Japanese counterpart Mikio Sasaki on May 14 at the press conference for the 47th Korea-Japan Business Conference.
On May 14, Korean and Japanese entrepreneurs released a joint statement at this year’s Korea-Japan Business Conference for the resumption of currency swaps between the two countries and the conclusion of a free trade agreement covering Korea, Japan, and China.
The joint statement included many measures for bilateral economic cooperation. One example is a consensus on Korea’s participation in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). The negotiations to that end are expected to pick up speed in that Japan, which is a major partner of the the leader of the TPP the United States, decided to vouch for Korea.
In addition, the entrepreneurs are going to make a series of suggestions to both governments with regards to cooperation in the fields of finance, foreign exchange, investment, and many more, while taking action for the resumption of the Korea-Japan currency swap, which came to a halt in February this year due to diplomatic tensions.
One of the other issues they agreed upon at this time is mutual collaboration for infrastructure export to and natural resources development in third countries. They also agreed on the necessity of closer ties in the ICT industry, including banking and public transportation cards. The two parties are going to work together for the success of the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics and the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, too.