Lee, CEOs agree to cooperate for 5 percent growth


The nation’s 30 largest business groups unveiled plans to invest more than 110 trillion won ($98.2 billion) and create 100,000 new jobs this year during their meeting with President Lee Myung-bak on Monday.

Leaders of Samsung, Hyundai Motor and other groups said they would increase their investment to 113.2 trillion won for 2011, which will mark an all-time high, compared with 100.8 trillion won a year earlier.

Lee visited the Korea Federation of Industries in Seoul for luncheon talks. This was Lee’s fifth official meeting with them following one in September.

The chairmen and CEOs said they would invest 26.3 trillion won in research and development in a bid to secure new growth engines, which would be a 26.6 percent increase from 2010.

Among the other sectors targeted are tourism, semiconductor, information technology, display, steel and power generation, according to the FKI.

The number of newly employed is expected to reach 118,000. The 30 groups hired 107,000 last year surpassing their original target of creating 75,000 jobs.

The total number of employees at the 30 groups came to 962,000 in 2010, up 6.7 percent from a year ago. The figure will likely continue to grow by 5.8 percent to 1.01 million this year.

The FKI said their export target has been set at $513 billion, up 16.9 percent from a year earlier and they also decided to strengthen marketing in overseas markets.

According to presidential aides, the investment plan is a sort of consensus between Lee and the CEOs to coordinate in achieving the nation’s economic growth target of 5 percent for this year.

The two sides also agreed to closely cooperate to stabilize the consumer price level at about 3 percent.

“President Lee expressed gratitude to the business sector that ranked the world’s seventh in exports despite a variety of difficulties,” an aide said.

Though the President also admitted the fanning skepticism in the market over the 5 percent growth and price stability, he stressed the feasibility of reaching the goal if the government policy harmonizes with the effort of the business sector, he said.

Participants included Samsung Electronics chairman Lee Kun-hee, Hyundai Motor Group chairman Chung Mong-koo, SK Group chairman Chey Tae-won, Hanwha Group chairman Kim Seung-youn, and Korea International Trade Association chairman SaKong Il.

By Kim Yon-se (kys@heraldcorp.com)