[THE INVESTOR] Business leaders from South Korea and Japan agreed on Oct. 10 to boost bilateral economic cooperation in overseas markets and step up efforts to reduce the damage from earthquakes in both countries.

The agreement came as the Federation of Korean Industries, South Korea’s biggest lobby group, and the Japanese Business Federation, held a regular meeting earlier in the day to discuss a variety of issues, including bilateral cooperation.

“The two countries’ cooperation is increasingly important for the stability of the Northeast Asian region,” Huh Chang-soo, chairman of the FKI, said in an opening speech. “The two countries are also required to make concerted efforts to tackle rising global protectionism.”

The Japanese Business Federation sent 19 members, including its Chairman Sadayuki Sakakibara, to the gathering here.

The two sides said that they need to set up a system to support their inroads into other nations, although they have successfully cooperated in venturing into many industrial segments of overseas markets.

In particular, they shared the view that more efforts should be made to prevent the potential damage from and deal with the aftermath of natural disasters such as earthquakes.

(theinvestor@heraldcorp.com)