The 8th World Chinese Entrepreneurs Conference (WCEC) concluded its three-day sessions here on Wednesday, which laid foundation for South Korean and world Chinese business people to make closer ties.

Describing the biannual gathering of Chinese business people as "successful", South Korean Minister of Commerce, Industry and Energy Lee Hee-boem said at a press conference earlier in the day that South Korea "has set up strategic cooperation ties with Chinese entrepreneurs all over the world through this year's meeting."

Just as the main theme of the WCEC - "Greater Ties with Chinese Entrepreneurs: Enhancing Global Peace and Prosperity", the South Korean government made great efforts to build understanding and trust between South Korean and Chinese business communities.

About 3,300 world Chinese entrepreneurs from some 30 countries and regions as well as South Korean business people participated in the gathering.

Participants attended investment seminars on leisure, tourism, information technology, biotechnology, startup venture businesses and social overhead capital development in the past three days.

Moreover, on the sidelines of the conference, Asian Venture Business Conference, South Korea-Chinese CEO Forum as well as various exhibitions were held.

South Korean representatives from three free economic zones of Incheon, Busan and Gwangyang, as well as South Korean provincial governments reached deals for 18 projects with Chinese entrepreneurs.

Obviously, the South Korean government is seeking closer ties with the 60-million-strong global Chinese business community.

"South Korea wants to support the weak overseas Chinese economy here, promote communication between South Korea and world Chinese business people and enhance development of South Korean economy," said Lee Hee-beom in an interview of Xinhua during the conference.

The South Korean senior official also underscored that to establish strategic partnership with Chinese business people all over the world is the long-term goal of his government.

The South Korean government played important role in this year's WCEC by offering much support for the organizing work for the conference and shouldering all the 10 million US dollars expenses of the meeting.

South Korean Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Ministry of Justice as well as related economic groups all extended support to the meeting,

South Korean entrepreneurs also viewed this meeting as great opportunity to make closer relations with their Chinese counterparts.

Local prominent companies, such as Samsung Electronics Co., Hyundai-Kia Motor Group, POSCO Co. and SK Co., sent 200 delegates to the meeting to seek new chances of cooperation with Chinese entrepreneurs.

South Korea's efforts produced exciting fruits.

Overseas Chinese-run enterprises signed memorandum of understandings over investment in South Korea, which amount to 830 million dollars, in the duration of the conference.

South Korean and world Chinese-own companies also used the opportunities to engage in trade discussions reaching 450 million dollars and sign actual export agreements worth 130 million dollars.

The South Korean government, moreover, expressed hope that the gathering will help dispel pessimistic image about it among the global Chinese business community, such as South Korea has not any a decent "China Town" and holds hostile attitude to foreign direct investment.

Overseas Chinese in South Korea are only less than 20,000, although their elders first entered the Korean Peninsula a century ago.

Some previous South Korean governments once took stern measures to limit the development of Chinese community, such as preventing them from entering the real estate sector and levying higher taxes over restaurants managed by Chinese.

More and more Chinese left here for other countries, which led the population of Chinese community sharply decreased from 100,000 to less than 20,000.

But recently, especially after the financial crisis in 1997, South Korea started paying attention to the Chinese business network all over the world, which made great contribution to the development of world economy.

South Korean Prime Minister Lee Hae-chan said at the closing ceremony of the meeting that "the closing of the meeting is not an end, but a news start of a cooperation between South Korean and Chinese business people."

Lee, the event's honorary advisor, also expressed the hope that South Korean and Chinese business people can make hand-in-hand to create peace and prosperity on the Northeast Asian regions.

Source: Xinhua