On December 8,2006, the fourteenth China-Korea Bilateral Financial Consultative Meeting was held in Shanghai. The meeting was jointly chaired by Xiang Junbo,Deputy Governor of the People’s Bank of China and President of the PBC ShanghaiHead Office, and Kim Sung-Jin, Deputy Minister of Economy and Finance of the Republicof Korea, and attended by representatives from the two central banks, thebanking, securities and insurance industries, and the foreign exchangemanagement agencies of the two countries.
Deputy Governor Xiang Junbo gave the Korean representatives an update of China’seconomic and financial situation, the latest progress in financial reform andbuilding the financial center of Shanghai. Deputy Governor Xiang pointed out that inthe past two years, the Chinese government strengthened macroeconomicmanagement intensified structural adjustment, and succeeded in maintaining agood momentum characterized by fairly rapid growth, better efficiency andrelatively low price level. In the first three quarters of 2006, China’s GDP grew by 10.7 percent. In the meantime, great achievements have been made in financial sector reform, and opening-up of the sector has entered a new stage.
Deputy Minister Kim Sung-Jin briefed the Chinese side on the Korean economic and financialsituation in 2006. The GDP growth in 2006 is expected to be 5.3 percent. Sincethe beginning of 2006, the corporate and banking sectors have posted higherprofits, indicating improved stability in the financial system.
At the working level, the two sides exchanged views on subjects including monetary policy,financial stability, building of a deposit insurance mechanism, foreign exchange management policy, and financial supervision. The Korean side alsogave an account of the newly established Korea Investment Corporation (KIC).
The China-KoreaFinancial Consultative Meeting, launched in 1993, is an annual dialogue chairedon a rotating basis by the People’s Bank of China and the Korean Ministry ofEconomy and Finance. Thanks to this platform, the monetary and financial supervision authorities of the two countries have had meaningful dialogues and conducted productive cooperation, resulting in better understanding between the monetary authorities and financial supervisory authorities of the two countries.
