The Korea Herald

지나쌤

Public forum on FTA on Thursday

By 신용배

Published : July 5, 2011 - 19:21

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A conference on economic opportunities and challenges arising from the Korea-EU FTA which came into effect on July 1 will take place in Seoul on Thursday.

The conference, taking place at the Koreana Hotel from 2 p.m., will also examine the current economic crisis in Europe and economic development in Korea.

The event is being jointly hosted by the Center for Free Enterprise, a Seoul-based free market think-tank, and the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Liberty, a German foundation for the promotion of individual freedom which has offices around the world including in Seoul.

“We picked the date hoping National Assembly members wouldn’t find a way to delay the agreement going into effect. So this is really timely because we are holding this less than a week after the agreement went into effect,” said Casey Lartigue Jr., manager of international relations at the CFE.

Speakers at the conference titled “Economic Freedom and the Wealth of Nations” will include independent political and economic consultant Stefan Melnik, Barbara Kolm of the F.A. v. Hayek Institute and Choeng In-kyo of Inha University in Incheon.

Lartigue said the conference was free and open to the public but recommended that those interested RSVP in advance.

“We are always trying to remind the public about the benefits of free enterprise, trade, voluntary exchanges. Agree or disagree, we are happy to present our analysis to the public,” Lartigue said.

Those interested in attending can visit www.cfe.org (Korean) or http://eng.cfe.org (English) to register, or call (02) 3774-5000 (Korean) or (02) 3774-5056 (English).

(john.power@heraldcorp.com)