Business Summit :100 CEOs to gather in Seoul at G20 summit

One hundred business movers and shakers from around the world will come together in Seoul later this year when heads of the 20 major economies meet for a global economic summit, organizers of the business meeting here reportedly said Thursday.

The committee planning the meeting said that CEOs from 100 global companies are expected to attend the two-day Seoul G20 Business Summit starting Nov. 10, just a day before the G20 summit is convened, according to local news reports.

There will be 80 business leaders from G20 member countries and the rest 20 will be from non-member nations, and they will discuss trade and investment, finance, green growth and social responsibilities of corporations, according to reports.

Attendees reportedly include Josef Ackermann, CEO of Deutsche Bank; Stephen Green, group chairman of British bank HSBC Holdings Plc.; and SK Group Chairman Choi Tae-won of South Korea.

Samsung fastest growing smartphone vendor

Samsung Electronics posted the highest growth rate in smartphone shipments among handset makers in the second quarter, driven by robust sales of its flagship Galaxy S devices in South Korea and other countries in the Asia Pacific region, the IDC said. 

The Korean company also unseated U.S. Motorola as the world’s No. 5 smartphone maker in the April to June period, according to the market research firm. 

Samsung, the world’s No. 2 handset manufacturer, is expected to continue to outperform the market in the third quarter with its rollout of Galaxy S in North America and other countries, but the handset vendor faces challenge from other Android-based phones such as HTC’s Evo 4G and Motorola’s Droid X, analysts say. 

Samsung on track to achieve 10m PC sales

Samsung Electronics is on course to achieve its annual PC sales target of 10 million units this year, with its first-half shipments reaching more than 5 million units, industry officials said on Monday.

The Korean company sold more than 2.4 million units of PCs worldwide in the second quarter, compared with 2.7 million units the previous quarter, according to preliminary data from market research firm Gartner. 

Industry officials expect Samsung’s 2010 PC shipments to surpass 10 million units, up more than 50 percent from 6.6 million units in 2009. 

Bolivian leader due here for resources cooperation

Bolivian President Evo Morales will visit South Korea at the end of the month for talks on resources development and economic cooperation, officials here said Monday. 

His planned visit raises hopes that Korea will gain an edge in a global race over the South American country’s vast deposits lithium, the key material for rechargeable batteries.

Korea, Japan, France and Brazil are competing to gain the right to develop Salar de Uyuni, the world’s largest salt flat in southern Bolivia, which is estimated to hold 5.4 million tons of lithium of deposits, equivalent to more than half of the world’s lithium reserves. 

Officials at the state-run Korea Resources Corp. and the Ministry of Knowledge Economy said the Bolivian leader will stay here for three days.

The company signed an agreement with Bolivia’s state bodies in August 2009 to develop and provide technology for lithium production.

During his visit, KORES will brief Morales on the progress in its technology development, the company said.

KORES president Kim Shin-jong is scheduled to visit Bolivia this week to prepare for Morales’ trip, sources said. 

The president’s itinerary does not include China and Japan, Korea’s main competitors in the market for small lithium ion batteries.

The three countries together control about 95 percent of the market.

Political factors are the largest obstacles for foreign concerns in advancing into the lucrative resources industry of the nation.

Bolivian President Evo Morales Reuters-Yonhap News

Telecoms, portals compete over social hubs

Local telecoms, online portals and electronics giants are competing to create social networking hubs in a bid to lure more mobile users.

KT Corp., the country’s No. 2 mobile carrier, said Monday it released a social networking hub service for its feature phone users, incorporating four different networking sites ― Twitter, Facebook, Cyworld and MeToday.

By registering their identifications of the SNS websites on the new site, users can upload and check their postings and photos simultaneously with their mobile phones.

The local telecom also said it is currently in the process of developing a mobile application involving the service for its smartphone users.

Last week, Yahoo! Korea also made a similar announcement, claiming its renovated homepage would offer a “one-stop networking service” for the portal users.

It also said the company’s renovated homepage would provide easy access to other websites, meaning a single log-in would be enough to get the desired service.

“Different strong points exist for the country’s portals and the development of a win-win strategy will be possible when they are shared by the service providers,” Kim Dae-sun, general manager of the Korean branch, told reporters at the press conference.

SK Communications, the operator of the popular Korean networking site Cyworld and online messenger Nate On, is also busily moving to establish its own social networking hub and Microsoft is soon planning to launch an upgraded version of its own social hub Windows Live.

Cho to debut against Nigeria

Soccer never stops at the club or international level. Just as the K-League is getting back into the swing of things after the World Cup, and Europe is getting ready to start a whole new season, everything is put on pause for a round of international friendly matches.

The reaction among many European fans is one of exasperation. With pre-season preparations virtually done, the thought of their star players spreading out all over the world for friendly matches and then returning home injured before a domestic ball has been kicked is not a pleasant one. For South Korea, however, the game against Nigeria at Suwon World Cup Stadium at 8 p.m. on Wednesday evening is important.

It is not only the first game since the 2010 World Cup and the first under new coach Cho Kwang-rae, the match marks the start of preparations for the 2011 Asian Cup in Qatar in January. There are less than five months before the South Korean team takes on Australia, India and Bahrain in the Middle East. That’s not much time for the new man, formerly coach of the Anyang Cheetahs, FC Seoul and Gyeongnam FC, to find his feet and his best team.

As with many coaches, his first roster contained some surprises, mainly the fact that six uncapped youngsters were included. Three of these ply their trade in Japan: Kim Min-woo, 20, of Sagan Tosu; Kim Young-kwon, 20, of FC Tokyo; and Cho Young-chul, 21, of Albirex Niigata. The Korean-based trio are Chi Dong-won, 19, of Chunnam Dragons, Hong Jeong-ho, 20, from Jeju United and Yoon Bit-Garam, 20, from Gyeongnam. 

If those fresh-faced footballers are taking their first steps in their international career then there is one of the 25 who is about to call it a day. Goalkeeper Lee Woon-jae is waving goodbye to the national team after 131 games between the sticks during an international career that started back in 1994. Now 36 years old, the Suwon shot-stopper went to the World Cup but watched the four games from the bench as Jung Sung-ryeong stepped up to the plate.

Seoul seeks more Chinese investment

The government will step up efforts to attract China’s investment with an aim to increase the sum more than 10-fold to $2 billion in 2015, a state-run trade promotion agency said Monday.

The Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency announced the plan to notch up the annual amount of Chinese investment to $500 million for this year, more than triple the amount of a year earlier, further to $1 billion in 2012 and $2 billion in 2015, making China the largest foreign investor nation.

Under the plan, China Plus Project, KOTRA launched promotion divisions named “China Desk” at its Seoul headquarters and Shanghai branch in May. 

The agency is planning to establish more offices in Dalian, Chengdu and Wuhan through 2012.

KBC operates five regional offices across China, including in Beijing and Shanghai, offering consultations to Chinese investors.
 
Also, Korea and China have agreed to set up an investment cooperation network to share information among companies, investment support agencies and local governments, while building a database of domestic firms seeking Chinese capital, KOTRA said.

The Korean government has strived to lure foreign direct investment since the financial crisis more than a decade ago, as foreign direct investment is crucial for the Korean economy as it fuels local economic growth and creates new jobs.

By injecting new Chinese capital, the government hopes to spark greater economic recovery from the recent global recession. 

Korea attracted about $11 billion in foreign investment last year, and estimates it will have attracted roughly $13 billion by the end of this year, according to the Ministry of Knowledge Economy.