Korea needs to implement more proactive policies and further open its market to boost foreign direct investment, foreign chambers said at an economic forum hosted by Herald Corp. in Seoul on Thursday.

“Korea is a very unique country with an advanced economy and relatively high growth rate. There are various attributes that make Korea an attractive place to make investments,” said Henry An, cochairman of the American Chamber of Commerce’s taxation committee.

But he added that the country should try to learn what foreign investors want so it can offer them specific incentives.

“More important than increasing the amount of incentives is to give them what they really need,” An said.

“There is a fierce global competition to attract foreign investment these days,” he added. “Some of the countries like Singapore have meetings with senior executives who will listen to their business inclinations, provide them with very customized solutions and help them achieve what they want to achieve.”

Singapore’s population is about one-10th that of Korea, but still wields strong foreign investment attraction, thanks to its unique sets of incentives, he said.

David-Pierre Jalicon, chairman of the French Korean Chamber of Commerce and Industry, on his part suggested that the country needs to maintain consistency and stability in policymaking and regulatory enforcement at state-run agencies such as the Financial Services Commission and the National Tax Service.

Mike Weisbart, vice chairman of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce in Korea, pointed out that the country needs to ”ease up“ its financial policies and “open up more.”

“No one here should fear opening up. The world economy is so interconnected today and many Korean companies benefit from a globalized economy.”

By Chung Joo-won (joowonc@heraldcorp.com)