South Korea, another of the world's "tiger" economies, has much to learn from Ireland's economic success story, particularly in relation to social partnership, its ambassador for international economy and trade, Dr Il SaKong said yesterday.
"Stable labour/management relationship and a consistent and predictable labour environment is very important for economic and sustainable growth," said Dr SaKong. "You have a social partnership agreement which I think is very constructive and I think we should learn from your experience."
He said there were a number of areas where the two countries could now co-operate.
"Korea is very strong in the IT hardware area. Already in terms of broadband access, we are ahead of the OECD and the internet-using population is well over 50 per cent. We have the hardware in place. Ireland is strong on software development and content development, so we have plenty of areas where we can co-operate for our mutual benefit," said Dr SaKong.
He also said that the two countries' geographical locations made co-operation desirable. Ireland's membership of the EU made it an attractive location for South Korean companies, while South Korea's proximity to China made it attractive to Irish companies who wanted to trade in that region, said Dr SaKong.
