GASME News

The Second Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon Sustainable Development Lecture Held in Seoul

From October 9th to 12th, 2018, GASME Secretary-General Frank Cao led a delegation of Chinese entrepreneurs to attend the Second Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon Sustainable Development Lecture in Seoul.

The delegation attended three major events in South Korea, namely, attending the 19th World Knowledge Forum, listening to the keynote speech on sustainable development by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and visiting Fortune 500 companies in South Korea.

The 19th World Knowledge Forum was held in Jangchung Arena, Seoul, on October 10th, 2018. Kim Dong-yeon, Deputy Prime Minister of South Korea, Ban-Ki moon, Former Secretary-General of the UN, Kersti Kaljulaid, President of Estonia, Janet Yellen, Former Chair of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System as well as over 250 other government leaders, executives from Fortune 500 companies, well-known economists and business elites attended the forum. At the invitation of Chang Dae-hwan, President of the forum host Maeil Business News Korea, the Delegation attended the Opening Ceremony of the Forum and the Business Banquet on the 11th.

The World Knowledge Forum is known as “Asia’s Davos”. It has been held annually since its first session launched in South Korea in October, 2000. Its mandate is to reduce knowledge gaps through knowledge sharing, and promote balanced global economic growth and prosperity. The 19th World Knowledge Forum, under the theme of “Collective Intelligence: Overcoming Global Pandemonium”, was convened to help address the various challenges facing mankind, promote discussions on themes concerning the current world order, the world economy and the technological innovation brought about by the Forth Industrial Revolution so as to reach wise solutions through collective intelligence.

On the afternoon of 10th, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon came to the hotel where the delegation stayed and met with the entrepreneurs. At the following Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon Sustainable Development Lecture, Frank Cao, on behalf of all delegation members, made an address acknowledging the great contributions SG Ban Ki-moon had made to promote the development of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the adoption of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change.

SG Ban Ki-moon pointed out that “on 25 September 2015, the 193 member states of the UN adopted the 17 Sustainable Development Goals at the United Nations Sustainable Development Summit. The realization of these goals depend not only on governments but on the participation of all walks of society, especially the entrepreneurs, as they are the key players in economic activities.” SG Ban Ki-moon wished that every entrepreneur become the active communicator and practitioner of the sustainable development concept and contribute to the sound and harmonious development of the world economy.

During the visit in South Korea, the delegation visited the Seoul Metropolitan Government. Wang Zhenghua, Co-Chair of GASME Sustainable Development Committee and President of Spring Airlines, and GASME Secretary-General Frank Cao, as well as other delegation representatives were invited by Chen Shengjun, Deputy Mayor of Seoul, to his office for further exchanges. Mayor Chen pointed out that he warmly welcomed more GASME delegations of entrepreneurs to Seoul for investment and business.

From the 11th to 12th, the delegation visited three manufacturing bases of the two Fortune 500 companies in South Korea, namely, Hyundai Motor Asan Plant, Hyundai Steel Dangjin Plant and Samsung Semiconductor Manufacturing Center. Samsung’s automated production process represents the most advanced science and technology today, and its modern management system has retained valuable research talents for the company.

The delegation members expressed their appreciation and enormous gaining from this Korea visit and wished that GASME could organize more visits of this kind so that Chinese entrepreneurs could go abroad for more learning opportunities.

This delegation was composed of thirty-nine young outstanding entrepreneurs, mainly from Beijing, Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Guangdong, Shaanxi and Auhui Province.