KOREAN NET

Global business leaders including Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang (right) and those from Google, Microsoft and Citigroup from Oct. 28-31 will attend in Gyeongju, Gyeongsangbuk-do Province, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation CEO Summit. Shown is President Lee Jae Myung (left) on Aug. 25 speaking to Huang at the Korea-U.S. Business Roundtable held at the Willard Hotel in Washington. (Office of President)

By Xu Aiying

Global executives including Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang and those from Google, Microsoft and Citigroup will gather late this month in Gyeongju, Gyeongsangbuk-do Province, for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) CEO Summit.

The Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) announced its hosting of the event, the largest private economic forum in the Asia-Pacific region, from Oct. 28-31 in the southeastern city.

Sixteen heads of state from 21 APEC member economies and some 1,700 CEOs of global companies will attend the summit. Under the theme "Bridge, Business, Beyond," the event will discuss topics like regional economic integration, artificial intelligence (AI) and digital transformation, sustainability, finance and investment, and biotechnology and health.

In global technology, the summit will discuss the future of AI and digitalization through speakers like Huang; Matt Garman, CEO of Amazon Web Services; Simon Kahn, vice president and chief marketing officer of Google APAC; Simon Milner, vice president of Meta; and Microsoft corporate vice presidents Antony Cook and Ulrich Homann.

From Korea, leading tech executives will join such as Naver CEO Choi Soo-yeon and Lee Honglak, head of LG AI Research.

Finance, manufacturing and energy will see participation by Citigroup CEO Jane Fraser, Johnson & Johnson CEO Joaquin Duato and Daniel Pinto, vice chairman and chief operating officer of JPMorgan Chase.

A key differentiating highlight of this year's CEO Summit is direct communication between heads of state and global executives. Participating companies can identify specific investment and cooperation prospects through individual meetings with APEC leaders and ministers.

In addition to official events, the Future Tech Forum and K-Tech Innovation Showcase will cover key industries such as AI, defense, shipbuilding, digital assets, energy and distribution. Both programs will also feature innovative Korean companies presenting cutting-edge technologies and exploring global partnerships.

"A joint study by the KCCI and Deloitte forecasts that this APEC summit will generate an economic impact of KRW 7.4 trillion and create 22,000 jobs," KCCI Executive Vice Chairman Park Il-jun said. "The APEC CEO Summit will serve as a practical cooperative platform for Korean companies to transform the challenges they face into new opportunities."

xuaiy@korea.kr