Minutes of 02/2008 Board of Directors’ Meeting
10.00 a.m. Thursday, 24 April 2008
Pacific Club, Two Pacific Place
Attendants:
Advisers:
1. Mr. Phongchai Sethiwan
2. Mr. Manob Song-Im
3. Kim, Hyung-Gon
Directors:
1. Mr. Ahn, Jong-Kug
2. Mr. Kraisin Vongsurakrai
3. Mrs. Mira Kim
4. Mrs. Vongthip Chumpani
5. Mr. Chang, Soo-Kil
6. Dr. Boon Ketutassa
7. Mr. Chang, Soo-Kil
8. Mr. Kim, Jong-Gee
Proxies:
1. Mr. Lee, Hyun-Woo
2. Mr. Kim, Jang-Soo
3. Mr. Teerawit Srisatidnarakul
4. Mr. Kim, Jong-Kil
5. Mr. Hong, Jong-Oh
6. Mr. Shin, Hyun-Kook
7. Mr. Park, Jong-Gak
Opening of the Meeting by President Ahn, Jong-Kug
At 10.30 President Ahn requested Secretary General to report on the attendance situation and proxies. She reported that among the total of 27 Directors there were 11 Directors present and 7 proxies received, which constituted a quorum to open the 02/2008 Board of Directors’ Meeting.
After the report President Ahn, welcomed all the Directors and Advisers present to the meeting.
Before proceeding the Board Meeting President Ahn reviewed the items of Agenda, and the Meeting went on according to the items, which were included in the meeting materials as follows:
Agenda
Item 1. Review & Approval of 01/2008 Board Meeting’s Minutes
Item 2. Reports by President, Vice Presidents, Secretary General, Treasurer, Registrar, Public Relations & other Directors
Item 3. Publication of Economic & Business Law on Korean Investment in Thailand in Celebration of 50th Anniversary of Thai-Korean Diplomatic Relationship
Item 4. Report on KTCC Web-site Reconstruction Project
Item 5. Other Matters
Item 1. Review & Approval of Minutes of 01/2008 Board of Directors’ Meeting
In review of 01/2008 Board of Directors’ Meeting, Secretary General went through the item by item of the Agenda, which included the following items:
1) Review & Approval of Minutes of 07/2007 Board of Directors’ Meeting
2) Review & Approval of Minutes of 04/2007 Executive Board Meeting
3) Approval of New Directors & New Members
The details of these three items had clearly been described in the beginning part of the Meeting Material, that could easily be followed by the Directors.
4) Publication of “Economic & Business Law on Korean Investment in Thailand”
Secretary General indicated that the Publication of this “Guide-book for Doing Business in Thailand” is to be in Korean language initially for the Korean business community in Thailand. This particular project would be in the celebration of 50th anniversary of Korean-Thai Diplomatic Relationship in 2008, in conjunction with the Korean Embassy represented by Adviser Kim, Yong-Rae.
She reminded that this particular item, and 5) Report on KTCC Web-site Reconstruction Project were included in the current Agenda for further discussions, owing to their development since the previous meeting that had taken place 3 months ago.
The rest of the items included:
6) Up-date on FBA & FTA between Thailand & Korea
7) Financial Report
8) Other Matters
Item 2. Reports by President, Vice Presidents, Secretary General, Treasurer, Registrar, Public Relations & other Directors
President’s Report:
Firstly President Ahn reported on the AGM 2008 held at 10.30 a.m. on Wednesday, 19 March at Conservatory Room of the Landmark Bangkok Hotel. It was very successful attended by more than 30 members and two honorary guests: H.E. Mr. Han, Tae-Gyu, the Korean Ambassador, who delivered Congratulatory Speech; and Mr. Sathit, the Secretary General of BOI, who informed the meeting of the latest information on Investment Policies of Thailand.
He also reported on the changes in our Board because of the new assignments of two Vice Presidents : Mr. Sung, Nak-Kil of LG and Mr. In, Chan-Moon of POSCO, both of whom have now been replaced by Mr. Lee, Hyun-Woo and Mr. Kim, Won-Ki, respectively.
Besides the two Vice Presidents four new Directors have also been included: Mr. Kim, Yeon-Su of GS Engineering & Construction; Mr. Kim, Man-Hee of Halla Climate Control (Thai) Co., Ltd.; Mr. Andrew Lyim of Locus Telecommunication Inc., Ltd.; and Mr. Kim Han-Jung of Shi-Asia Co., Ltd.
He also reported on the Meeting of the Advisory Committee, which was established on 4 February and had a meeting on 3 March. On coming Saturday of 26 April, the Committee would have its April monthly gathering at Lakewood Country Club for the meeting with golf rounding.
His report also included our Chamber’s participation in the two important meetings in conjunction with Korean-Thai relationship: the Launching Ceremony and Press Conference of the 50th Anniversary of the Establishment of Diplomatic Relations between Korea and Thailand taken place on 8 April at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Thailand; and IT Business Forum on Broadcasting-Communications Convergence between Korea and Thailand, that was to take place at 2 p.m. on the same day as our Board Meeting. He encouraged all the Directors to attend the Forum in that afternoon.
Vice Presidents’ Report:
V.P. Kraisin reported on the ASEAN – South Korean FTA that among the 10 ASEAN member-countries, only Thailand has not yet sign on the Agree- ment, owing to the negotiation details on trading goods. Besides, according to the Article 190 of new Constitution of 2007, it requires the ratification of the Parliament. However, it was expected to be concluded by the end of the year 2008 including the negotiation on investment.
He would send the latest up-date on the FTA in Thai to Secretary General, which she will translate into English and Korean to put up in our website.
Treasurer’s Report
On behalf of Treasurer Vongthip, Secretary General Mira Kim report that in January, February and March 2008 we had the income of 137,855.00 Baht and the expenditure of 168,381.52 Baht as indicated in the Statements of Income and Expenditure as included in the Meeting Material.
And, at the end of March 2008, we had 9,459.75 Baht as cash in hand and 393,507.44 Baht as cash deposit at SCIB Bank.
To help for solving certain technical accounting details Director Chang, Soo-Kil will visit our Office to explain the points to our accountant. Secretary General thanked him, and added that the accounting system in use at present was laid out from the time of Past President Manob and it should probably in use until the end of the fiscal year.
Item 3. Publication of Economic & Business Law on Korean Investment in Thailand in Celebration of 50th Anniversary of Thai-Korean Diplomatic Relationship
On behalf of Adviser Kim, Yong-Rae, Secretary General Mira Kim report-
ed that the most detailed information of this particular project was included
in the Meeting Materials, as follows:
This particular project, a joint effort between the Embassy and our Chamber, was designed as a total guide-book for operating business in Thailand, publication of which would mark the auspicious occasion of the 50th anniversary of Thai-Korean Diplomatic Relationship in 2008.
This business guide-book with 4 chapters and one appendix was estimated to take 6 months to complete, beginning from this January until June 2008. Each Chapter would be taken care of by the man-power supplied by our members including Samsung, LG, POSCO and KOTRA.
The guide-book would contain the following chapters and topics:
Chapter I. Overall Economy of Thailand
1. Major Indicators of Thai Economy
2. Tendency of Trade and Investment
Chapter II. Thai Economy and Business Laws
1. Procedure in Setting up a Company
2. Regulations of Factory Licence and Industry Permission
3. Regulations of Patent, Trade-mark and Consumer Protection
4. Laws on Immigration, Visa and Work Permit
5. Laws on Land-ownership and other real Estate
6. Business Tax, Income Tax and other Taxation Laws
7. Foreign Currency Control and Financial Policies
Chapter III. Policies on Economy and Industry
1. Over-all Economy Policies
2. Foreign Business Act
3. Trade and Investment Policies
4. Science and Technology Policies
5. Energy and Natural Resources Policies
Chapter IV. Information on Doing Business in Thailand
1. Information on Prices of Consumer Goods in Thailand
2. Information on Consulting and Law Firms
3. Information on Major Exhibitions in Thailand
4. List of Major Associations and Organizations in Thailand
5. List of Government and Public Agencies
6. Information of Financial Institutions in Thailand
7. Information on Buyers in Thailand
8. Information on Taxation Details of Major Import and Export Items
9. Information on Products’ Standard and Safety Specifications
Appendices
1. Important Economy and Business Laws (in Korean or in English)
2. Frequently raised Questions and Answers in Business
3. Cases of Legal Arbitration and Solution
For the up-to-date data, the committee would consult Thai government agencies, such as Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Commerce, BOI, DEP, Revenue Department, etc. When the FTA between Thailand and Korea would have been signed later this year, the bilateral import tax details would have to be revised. This would be crucial for the strategic business planning for certain industries, particularly those contributing to the economic development of Thailand as a developing country. They seemed to include the plans of the electricity generation and the substitute energy development, such as the bio-diesel production.
The progress of this project would closely be reflected on our web-site, and when the whole contents would have been compiled and edited, it would be published in a printed book-form.
Item 5. Report on KTCC Web-site Reconstruction Project
KTCC’s Web-master Mr. Choi, Jong-Gyu made a detailed presentation on our Website, which included:
1) Objectives of Building Website;
2) System Architecture;
3) Structure of Website;
4) Organization Intranet;
5) Website Traffic Analysis; and finally
6) Current Status and Jobs to do
His LCD presentation was also included in the Meeting Materials.
Vice President Kraisin asked about the additional keyword, and our web-master replied that our site used the search engine of Google’s.
Item 5. Other Matters
Before ending the meeting President Ahn solicited the support of all the Directors, not only of their wise advice in running our Chamber successfully, but also of donations for our current projects: publication of “Business Guidebook” and the maintenance of our website.
He reminded that to run our KTCC Office, we need a basic annual budget of 700,000 Baht. And this year for the two projects mentioned above, we need an extra budget of 800,000 Baht: 500,000 Baht for the publication of “Business Guidebook”; and 300,000 Baht for the reconstruction and maintenance of our Website for a year. He requested special donations from the Directors and members to fulfill these two projects
Without any further discussions, the Meeting was adjourned at 11.40 a.m.
KOREAN-THAI CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
Certified by
Mira Kim Ahn, Jong-Kug
Secretary General President 2007-2008
