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Cabinet ministers of 11 Central and South American nations will arrive in Seoul this week for a two-day investment and trade forum to be held from Wednesday.

The business gathering featuring high-profile participants is taking place several months after Seoul unveiled a plan to bolster ties with emerging nations and beef up energy diplomacy.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MOFAT), in collaboration with the Ministries of Land and Transport, Environment and Knowledge Economy, launched the high-level forum in 2008 to assist South Korean businesses pinpoint business opportunities in Central and South America.

During the two-day forum, the vice president and Cabinet ministers of 11 governments in the region will present their major development projects to seek South Korean investment.

The 11 nations are Costa Rica, Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Panama, Peru, Uruguay, Chile and Nicaragua.

High-profile participants include: Alfio Piva, first vice president of Costa Rica; Carlos Rodado, minister of mines and energy of Colombia; and Matias Mori, executive vice president of the foreign investment committee of Chile.

“Aside from the official sessions, many bilateral business meetings are to take place on the sidelines. Deals will be made through those individual meetings,?a MOFAT official said, asking not to be named.

He said the investment forum has been a positive venue in the past to connect local businesspeople to potential business opportunities in the American continents. Through the forum several contracts were signed between South Korean businesses and Central and Latin American governments.

The official declined to give specific details of the deals that had been made previously.

By Kang Hyun-kyung(hkang@koreatimes.co.kr)



# The Korea Times [MAY 16 2011]