South Korea said that it will revampbusiness authorisation guidelines tohelp domestic and foreign companiesinvest more easily in the IncheonInternational Airport free economiczone (FEZ).

The airport FEZ is one of the freeeconomic zones Asia’s third-largesteconomy is pushing to develop as partof efforts to become a business hub inNortheast Asia.

The free economic region, located40 kilometres west of Seoul, covers34,141 acres and will be developed by2010. It includes a bonded area wherevarious taxes and customs duties areexempted. Seoul wants to build a largelogistics centre that can become a logisticshub in Northeast Asia.

The airport zone is part of a largerFEZ covering the Songdo and Cheongnaareas of the port city. According to agovernment plan, the regions will havea population of 2.6 million people andaccommodate 7,600 companies.