Korean businesses seeking to tap the Chinese market and Chinese investors searching for investment opportunities here gathered in Seoul on Monday for the city’s inaugural Seoul China Investment Week.

The two-day event kicked off with an investment forum, attended by 300 participants from 148 local companies and 56 Chinese investment firms.

“Seoul China Investment Week will work as an opportunity for Korean and Chinese companies to boost cooperation and investment, while this is just a beginning for Seoul City to build a city with business competitiveness,” said Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon during his opening remarks at the forum.

The mayor stressed the city will seek a more active role in promoting Korea-China business relations.

The current bilateral relations are far from its best shape, after Seoul decided to deploy a US-led anti-missile system here despite Beijing’s vocal opposition. Some local businesses fear Beijing may take a retaliatory step on the trade front.

“Seoul City will support more local firms to be able to work in China, as well as arrange more opportunities for Chinese investment firms,” Park said. 

Qiu Guohong, Chinese ambassador to Korea, said in a speech that “Korea is China’s one of the most important partners in terms of economic and investment development, thanks to (the) two countries’ strong ties. Cooperation between (the) two countries will synergize investment in various fields such as smart business.”

One-on-one counseling sessions, lectures and guides on doing business in China from Chinese market experts are offered during the forum as well as the entire China week program. 

During one of the forum’s events, Yu Xiaojia, head of the Chinese Ministry of Commerce’s representative office in Korea and Lee Ho-jun from the Embassy of the Republic of Korea in China gave their market outlook and recipe for success in the Chinese market.

Veteran Chinese market expert Lee Mun-hyung gave a presentation that introduced the Chinese investment environment and strategies for local firms to enter the market.

To attract more Seoul companies to the Chinese market, Hu Zhirong, chairman of the United World Chinese Association as well as representatives from the Beijing Investment Promotion Bureau and Yantai Investment Promotion Bureau gave an in-depth introduction to the investment environment in China and strategies for Korean companies which wish to work abroad.

Lawyer Byun Woong-jae also shared real life examples about small- and mid-sized companies which successfully entered the Chinese market, as well as tips on preventing possible lawsuits which Korean companies may encounter abroad.

“Although the city government is hosting Seoul China Investment Week 2016 for the first time, we hope to host more of this kind of events from next year to be able to support both local firms and Chinese investment companies,” said Seo Dong-rok, head of the SMG’s Economic Planning division.

By Kim Da-sol (ddd@heraldcorp.com)