16th Ministerial Meeting on Boosting the Economy
15th Ministerial Meeting on the Economy of 2019
Government to Promote Biohealth Industry
Deputy Prime Minister Hong Nam-ki presided over the 16th Ministerial Meeting on Boosting the Economy, that is, the 15th Ministerial Meeting on the Economy of this year, held on May 15. Plans to develop biohealth industries, promote coastal and marine tourism, and set up a high-tech industrial park in college campuses were main topics of discussion. DPM Hong talked about the April job data at the beginning of the meeting, and checked out the proceedings of government’s community facilities construction projects.
The following is a summary of DPM Hong’s keynote address.
April job data
A total of 171,000 new jobs were created in April according to the job data released this morning. It is a good sign that declines in the manufacturing sector slowed and employment increased in hotels and restaurants for a third month. Employment among those aged 15-29 has risen for eight months in a row, but employment declined among those in their 30s and 40s, and this presents that there should be more investment made by the private sector.
Develop biohealth industry
Biohealth markets are projected to grow 5.4 percent every year to amount to a total of US $10 trillion in 2022[1]. Given the country’s advanced ICT technologies and medical services, there is a high chance of biohealth growing into one of the next growth engines. The government will finalize its biohealth development measures as soon as possible, which will cover promoting R&D, improving regulations and supporting marketing activities.
Promote coastal and marine tourism
Coastal and marine tourism accounts for 50 percent of total global tourism. The government will work to develop the country’s coastal and marine tourism into one attracting about 10 million tourists a year in 2023, creating 3,000 jobs. We will today discuss plans to develop seven zones for the country’s coastal and marine tourism, which contain zone-specific meausres, such as building yacht clubs and cruise terminals, as well as developing scenic sidewalks along the coast.
Set up a high-tech industrial park in college campuses
We will discuss plans to set up a high-tech industrial park in college campuses, which will include
- Piloting 2-3 campus industrial parks this year, and continue with more in 2020
- Providing A to Z support from affordable offices to production facilities
- Setting up within the industrial park housing and recreation facilities, daycare centers and other resident facilities
Proceedings of government’s community facilities construction projects
A total of 8.6 trillion won, an increase of 2.8 trillion won compared with the previous year, has been allocated this year to the construction of community facilities. For these budgets to be spent as planned, projects should be launched in the first half, and I call for related ministries and local governments to work on the start of the project as planned.
Please refer to the attached pdf
