Invest KOREA

- 521 overseas buyers from 61 countries visited South Korea
- KOTRA and MOTIE held Global Business Plaza 2013

Despite North Korea’s military threats, 521 overseas buyers visited Korea to purchase domestic products.

Global Business Plaza 2013 (GBP 2013), a 3-day event that started yesterday, held its main show today at KINTEX in Ilsan. Sponsored by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and organized by the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA), GBP 2013 helps small- and mid-sized enterprises (SMEs) suffering from a weak yen enter foreign markets and become global players by providing them with business-to-business meeting opportunities. It is Korea’s largest export show of the first half of the year and will continue through tomorrow in other regions of Korea to offer local firms opportunities to export their goods.

Attended by 521 foreign buyers from 61 countries and about 1,700 domestic firms, GBP 2013 offered business-to-business meetings focusing on the fields of parts and materials, consumer goods, cultural content, and IT-related projects.

On an official visit to Korea, Mohammed Ali Abdallah Addarrat, Deputy Minister of Information and Technology of Libya, discussed with KOTRA and government departments cooperative ways to implement the “e-Libya” project, which aims to build information and communications technology (ITC) infrastructure in Libya with an investment of USD 4 billion. KOTRA plans to sign four MOUs with foreign authorities, including Bahrain’s e-Government Authority, during the event.

At the International Airport Procurement Zone, Germany’s Fraport AG, Britain’s Heathrow Airport, and other international airports, which had provided a list of goods they look for two months before the event, showed great interest in airport equipment and materials manufactured by technologically and cost-competitive Korean enterprises.

Foreign-invested companies in Korea also participated in the event. The Foreign-Invested Company Zone included 11 foreign corporations seeking domestic suppliers and six foreign-invested firms hoping to discover export channels for their goods. Under the slogan “Growing Together with Korea,” the zone helped domestic SMEs diversify their export channels.

“If foreign-invested firms buy Korean goods, the goods will be supplied to their local and parent companies, boosting the export of domestic enterprises. We will endeavor to secure export channels for SMEs through trade and investment-combined projects,” said Dr. Oh Young-ho, President of KOTRA.

GBP 2013 expanded ground for Korean exports by setting up the Export Beginner pavilion and Export Support Consulting pavilion at the Export Company Development Zone. KOTRA provided export consulting assistants to 36 export beginner firms and 46 textile and fashion enterprises participating in the Export Beginner pavilion to help them fully engage in business meetings.