Government to Step Up
SME's Competitive Edge

Minister of Knowledge and Economy Lee calls for more hands-on approach


Minister of Knowledge and Economy Lee Youn-ho stressed field-oriented work and steps to beef up the competitiveness of SMEs in his recent inaugural speech.
Minister Lee repeated the request during senior officials'meetings for his ministry's officials to "go out into the field to serve the people and companies rather than resorting to the old way of pursuing policies on paper."The instruction follows President Lee Myung-bak's policy to focus on observation tours in the field. It seems to be a vulnerable point for Minister Lee in that he had been with a research institute for more than 20 years. Lee, the ex-vice president of the Federation of Korean Industries, served as an official at the Economic Planning Board and the Korea Federation of Banks and as president of the LG Economic Research Institute.
However, Minister Lee spent half of March 5 at the Sihwa and Balwoel industrial complexes where he made inspection tours of occupant companies. It was the second time he made an inspection tour in the field since his inauguration. During the day, Lee toured three companies and listened to a wide array of complaints and grievances over lunch with SME representatives. He told reporters, "It was like returning home from work engrossed with the task of solving a lot of problems. Officials will be told to institutionalize meetings designed to solve complaints and grievances, not to hold ceremonial rites."Minister Lee said he will attach his ministry's top policy priority on strengthening the competitive edge of SMEs. He said the ministry plans to work out and implement the "Innovate Korea Project"aimed at raising the productivity and technological power of SMEs within the first half of this year. Korean SMEs'competitiveness is half of that of their counterparts in advanced countries, and the government will concentrate its support on innovating processes and management, not on one-time financial support like the provision of loans, he said.
Lee said occupants'rental portion of industrial complexes will be increased in order to relieve the financial difficulties SMEs that want to move there have experienced due to hefty land prices.
He appeared to show caution in his stance toward the privatization of public corporations. "proponents say that privatization can enhance the competitive edge and efficiency, but there are also worries that it could bring about such side-effects as supply unrest and rate increases, so such things as changes in energy market conditions and the impact on consumers need to be extensively examined,"he said.
The newly inaugurated Knowledge and Economy Ministry has turned into a mega-size ministry by merging the whole of the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy (MOCIE), and parts of the now-defunct ministries of Information and Communication, Science and Technology and part of the Finance and Economy. With the merger in his mind, Lee stressed organizational cohesion during his inaugural message, saying that officials from government agencies other than MOCIE may be given advantages, not disadvantages in order to maintain organizational harmony.
Lee announced a plan to change the Korea Post into a public corporation. The Korea Post has been placed under the jurisdiction of the Knowledge and Economy Ministry as a result of the merger. However, the minister indicated that the change will take time, saying that thorough preparations will be made to provide people with better services.
In a related development, Minister Lee said his ministry will create a field observation corps designed to serve as a "trouble shooter"in charge of solving a variety of complaints and grievances companies experience. "The field observation corps will be charged with hearing and solving complaints and grievances from the relevant companies and regions related to such issues as labor strife, foreign investments and restrictions imposed on the Seoul metropolitan area,"he said.
Minister Lee announced this and other steps during his first meeting with the heads of five economic organizations since his inauguration, which was held at the Chosun Hotel in downtown Seoul on March 7. Those on hand included S.K. Cho, chairman of the Federation of Korean Industries; Sohn Kyung-shik, chairman of the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry; Lee Hee-beom, chairman of the Korea International Trade Association; Lee Soo-young, chairman of the Korea Employers Federation, and Kim Ki-mun, chairman of the Korea Federation of Korea Small Business. nw

Minister of Knowledge and Economy Lee Youn-ho stresses hands-on and field approach in speeches he delivered recently.


Copyright(c) 2003 Newsworld All rights reserved. news@newsworld.co.kr
3Fl, 292-47, Shindang 6-dong, Chung-gu, Seoul, Korea 100-456
Tel : 82-2-2235-6114 / Fax : 82-2-2235-0799