Felix Abbot

Felix Abt (born January 15, 1955 in Switzerland ) is a Swiss entrepreneur. He is considered a specialist in foreign investments and doing business in North Korea .

overview

Abt is one of the first foreign businessmen in North Korea, where he lived from 2002 to 2009 and developed and operated various businesses. Abt was co-founder and school director of the Swiss co-financed Pyongyang Business School , which also made him excel in economic development aid and development cooperation in the training of senior executives of North Korean government agencies and companies in corporate management. Abbot has been interviewed and quoted many times about North Korea by international media such as: B. CNN, FOXNews, ABC BBC, Le Monde, Handelsblatt, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Der Standard, Oesterreich, Die Presse, Oesterreich, AFP, Businessweek, The Financial Times and Bloomberg and has advised business associations.

Professional background

Before he returned to the Asea Brown Boveri Group (ABB) in 2002 and moved to North Korea, Felix Abt lived in various countries and regions from 1990 onwards, e.g. B. Vietnam, Middle East and Africa, where he worked for various companies.

North Korea

In 2002, Felix Abt was appointed by the Swiss-Swedish group Asea Brown Boveri (ABB), a world market leader in the fields of power engineering and automation technology , as group representative for North Korea based in Pyongyang. On May 19, 2003, he signed a memorandum of understanding on the construction of a power grid by ABB with the North Korean Ministry of Energy and Coal Industries, in the presence of the Swiss Foreign Minister, the Swedish Ambassador to North Korea and the North Korean Minister for Energy and Coal Industries, “for the purpose of a solution serious problems in the energy sector reflected in the run down power generation and transmission facilities ” (Yonhap). At the end of 2003 he became a commercial agent for several multinational companies in selected business areas such as infrastructure (ABB), mining ( Sandvik ) and textiles ( Dystar ), for which he achieved multi-million euros in sales.

At the same time Felix Abt was managing director from October 2005 to February 2009 and from March 2009 deputy chairman of the supervisory board of the joint venture PyongSu Pharma, Pyongyang, the first foreign-invested company in the pharmaceutical sector. During his time as head of the company, it became the first North Korean pharmaceutical factory to achieve international quality standards (the so-called Good Manufacturing Practice or GMP), which was tested and certified by the World Health Organization in the factory, and the first North Korean company to enter into supply contracts on the basis of tenders won against international competitors. Under his direction, the company also built up a pharmacy chain in the country.

Abt was the initiator, co-founder and the first President of the “European Business Association” (EBA), Pyongyang, founded on April 28, 2005, which de facto fulfills the role of a European Chamber of Commerce . Among other EBA organized the participation of European companies at trade fairs in North Korea and has hosted several visiting missions, such as, for example, the members of the EU - Parliament and EU ambassadors . As chairman of the EBA Pyongyang, Abt carried out intensive lobbying work against economic sanctions imposed by Western countries , which hindered legitimate foreign business activities in North Korea. At the same time, Felix Abt was co-initiator, co-sponsor and school director of the Pyongyang Business School from 2004, which organized regular seminar cycles on strategic management and corporate governance for senior executives in North Korean ministries and companies. Felix Abt 2007 was co-founder and investor and is Vice Chairman of the first foreign-invested software - joint venture called Nosotek . In 2008, Abt started an online art gallery that introduces North Korean painters and shows North Korean art .

Web links

• Pyongyang Business School
• felixabt.com archived website as of 2014

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ( Yonhap News Agency ) Despite Reforms, NK Replete with Animosity against Capitalism, Yonhap, March 17, 2004 [1]  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as broken. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
2. ↑ Western Firms doing business in N. Korea, The Washington Post, November 5, 2006 [2]
3. ↑ An Amazing Business Pioneer in North Korea is telling us the real reasons behind the sudden and surprising pull-out of a global engineering giant from this country, Interview Blog, Germany, September 10, 2008 [3]
4. ↑ Some Western Companies initiating investment in North Korea, FOX NEWS, November 5, 2006 [4]
5. ↑ North Korea Tour, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, June 16, 2007 ( Memento from January 13, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
6. ^ "Things have improved for business people", BBC interview with Felix Abt, Pyongyang, October 10, 2005, 7 Years Inside North Korea: Extraordinary Insights into Life Behind the Last Iron Curtain
7. ^ Corée du Nord: La pharmacopée traditionnelle au secours d'un système de santé dégradé, Le Monde, Paris, July 2, 2007 [5]
8. ↑ Doing business in Pyongyang: The road to making money is long in North Korea, Handelsblatt, Germany, March 9, 2006 [6]
9. ^ A Swiss businessman in Pyongyang. Felix Abt manufactures aspirin for North Korea and is fighting the effects of the sanctions, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, May 15, 2007 Abstract
10. ↑ "The USA cannot be trusted", In North Korea people react with pride to alleged nuclear weapon tests, Der Standard, Vienna, October 14, 2006 [7]
11. ↑ North Korea: Land of the Black Economy. The regime is only hesitantly allowing an economic opening. Die Presse, Vienna, May 11, 2007 [8]
12. ^ "Dans les hôpitaux aussi, les Nord-Coréens manquent de presque tout", Reportage de l'AFP, May 7, 2007 [9]
13. ↑ North Korea's Profession: Entrepreneur, Businessweek, May 5, 2006
14. ^ North Korea toys with risk and reward, The Financial Times, September 1, 2005 online ( Memento of June 7, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
15. ↑ North Korean Propaganda Festival May Signal Shift in Policy, Bloomberg, May 10, 2007 [10]
16. ↑ North Korea Wants End to Sanctions Before It Makes Nuclear Deal, Bloomberg, July 27, 2007 [11]
17. ↑ “US Treasury's Levey Says Bankers Worldwide Are Shunning Iran” (and North Korea), Bloomberg, November 15, 2007 [12]
18. ↑ North Korea's Kim Allows Tentative Stirrings of Profit Motive, Bloomberg, December 27, 2005 [13]
19. ↑ Swiss Bizman Names Five Promising Business Areas for North Korea, Yonhap, February 4, 2004 [14]  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
20. ^ "North Korea - doing business in a demanding environment", Felix Abt; Insight Asia Pacific magazine, Oastasiatischer Verein e. V. (OAV), Hamburg, September 2009 ( PDF ( Memento from February 24, 2011))
21. ↑ ABB Management Information, Appointments, ABB update 20/2002, page 5
22. ↑ NORTH KOREA THIS WEEK NO. 243 (May 22, 2003), Topic of the Week, Yonhap News Agency. [15]  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
23. ↑ MOU signed between DPRK and Switzerland, Korea Central News Agency (KCNA), Pyongyang, May 19, 2003 Archive link ( Memento from January 13, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
24. ↑ DPRK SIGNS POWER GRID DEAL WITH FIG. Swiss Foreign Minister Visits Pyongyang, The People's Korea, Pyongyang, May 19, 2003 Archive link ( Memento from September 27, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
25. ^ Making Money in Pyongyang - This is No Hallucination; Asiabizblog.com, September 10, 2008 archive link ( Memento from January 5, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
26. ↑ Drug company urges aid donors to buy “local”, The Korea Herald, Seoul, March 30, 2007 Archived copy ( Memento of July 11, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
27. ^ PyongSu Pharma JV Co., Pyongyang, and what it stands for. Introduction to humanitarian organizations [16]
28. ^ European Business Association (EBA), Pyongyang, North Korea; www.aboutus.org Archived copy ( Memento from January 7, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
29. ^ European Business Association (EBA), Pyongyang, Founding Ceremony
30. ^ European firms in N. Korea running business association: chairman. May 6, 2007, Yonhap [17]  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
31. ↑ Driving the streets of post-Stalinist Pyongyang is just like time travel, The Daily Telegraph, London, November 11, 2006 [18]
32. ↑ Pyongyang business group celebrates first anniversary, The Korea Herald, April 28, 2006 archive link ( Memento from January 20, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
33. ↑ Strong Showing of EU Companies at 3rd Pyongyang Autumn Int'l Trade Fair, Oct. 10, 2007, The Seoul Times [19]
34. ↑ MANY EUROPEAN COMPANIES ATTEND AUTUMN TRADE FAIR IN PYONGYANG: REPORT. AsiaPulse News (Yonhap), October 18, 2007 [20]  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as broken. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
35. ↑ European business delegates to visit Pyongyang in October. September 25, 2005, Yonhap [21]  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
36. ↑ Businessmen accuse US of indiscriminate sanctions, The Korea Herald, Seoul, September 18, 2006 archive link ( Memento from February 7, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
37. ↑ Optimism alive despite political tensions. European business group in Pyongyang sees NK as an attractive FDI destination, The Korea Herald, Seoul, June 26, 2006 [22]  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as broken. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
38. ^ Pyongyang Business School, Slide Show, July 28, 2009
39. ↑ Graduates prove North Korea is now open for business, The Financial Times, August 18, 2005 archive link ( Memento from April 30, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
40. ^ "North Korea - doing business in a demanding environment", in which u. a. the establishment of the first foreign-invested software company is described; Felix Abbot; Insight Asia Pacific magazine, Oastasiatischer Verein e. V. (OAV), Hamburg, September 2009 ( PDF ( Memento from February 24, 2011))
41. ↑ NKeconWatch Says: August 2nd, 2009 at 10:13 am "(...) He is also Vice Chairman of the board of directors of Nosotek, a co-founder, and a shareholder". [23]
42. ↑ "Nosotek is the first European-invested software development & research company in the DPRK, with the head office in Pyongyang." - Interview with Mr. Ju Jong Chol (Vice President of Nosotek), Interview Blog, Germany, April 15, 2008 [24]
43. ↑ Nosotek IT JV, Pyongyang, North Korea - the first Western IT venture! Video on YouTube [25]
44. ↑ Pyongyang-painters.com introducing renowned painters as well as new talents from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) Archived copy ( Memento of the original from January 18, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
45. ^ North Korean art makes a show in Vietnam, Timeout, Hanoi, June 2009
46. ↑ First ever North Korean painting exhibition in Nha Trang, The Saigon Times, Vietnam, June 10, 2009 Archived copy ( Memento from June 18, 2009 in the Internet Archive )