The Korean-German Chamber of Commerce and Industry elected Peter Tiedemann, president and representative director of ZEISS Korea, as its new German Chairman. At its 39th annual general meeting held on June 18 at the Grand Hyatt in Seoul, he was chosen to succeed Ingrid Drechsel, the former president of Bayer Korea.

With more than 30 years of professional work experience, Tiedemann worked many years for Wacker Chemie in Germany, South Africa, Turkey, China and Singapore, and for more than 15 years for ZEISS in China and South Korea. He has been working in Korea since 2009 as president of ZEISS Korea. He leads all ZEISS subsidiaries here including those in medical devices, industrial quality and research, semiconductor metrology technology and vision care consumer products.

In his acceptance speech, Tiedemann said, “Korea and Germany are looking back on historically special partnership. In crisis times, when fear closes doors and borders, it is more important than ever, to keep this partnership alive and keep the ease of business going, as this is of mutual benefit.

“This is my personal objective as German chairman of the KGCCI to work in this direction.”

Dr. Hyo Joon Kim, chairman of BMW Group Korea, was re-elected Korean chairman of the chamber. Stefan Spreu, general manager & representative director of Elringklinger Korea, was elected German vice chairman and Young Yull Kim, representative director and chairman of BASF Company, was elected Korean Vice Chairman.

Since 2017, the chamber has introduced a new governance system with two co-chairs, emphasizing the characteristics of both countries.

(khnews@heraldcorp.com)