Invest KOREA

The Foreign Investment Week 2016, a national investor relations event promoting Korea as an attractive investment destination for foreign investors, was held at the Grand Intercontinental Seoul Parnas, Seoul, Korea under the theme of ‘Strengthening Global Partnership in New Industries in the Future.‘

Various programs for investment promotion including forums, business roundtables, one-on-one business partnering sessions, and site visits were offered by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) and the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA) as part of the event which ran through September 29.

This year’s event was the largest of its kind with a total of 1,323 attendees, up nearly 30% from last year. The largest number of participants on record includes 337 foreign investors from 291 firms overseas, 235 representatives from 186 foreign-invested companies in Korea, 19 foreign media, and 445 attendees from 328 Korean companies. The number of applications for one-on-one business partnering between foreign investors and Korean companies seeking potential investment opportunities also increased by 1.5 times to 640.

Growing interest from Chinese investors and strong investment relationship between Korea and China were witnessed once again by this year’s event, as the number of Chinese investors more than doubled from last year’s 34 to 82 investors from 73 companies this year. The China Investment Promotion Agency (CIPA), an affiliated organization of China’s Ministry of Commerce, proposed to set up the tentatively named 'Korea-China Investment Cooperation Joint Conference’ to strengthen bilateral cooperation on investment. Invest Korea and CIPA will hold working-level discussions with a plan to kick off the meeting within this year.

MOTIE held presentation meetings and consulting sessions for major investors in emerging industries and service sectors including the ICT convergence, renewable energies, bio-health, new materials, and high-end consumer goods. On-site visits to the Energy Valley in Naju, the Eco Delta City in Busan, and the Port Hinterland Complex in Ulsan were also arranged for foreign investors and members of the press as part of efforts to introduce investment locations in Korea.

Global companies doing businesses in Korea including Solvay, Intel, and GM Korea agreed on the importance of corporate social responsibility of foreign-invested enterprises and discussed on ways to enhance activities to fulfil the responsibility.

The First Vice Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Jeong Man-gi said in his welcoming remark at the opening ceremony "South Korea is an attractive investment destination that grows steadily despite rising uncertainties in the global economy. It is a dynamic country linked with the global market through FTAs and a birthplace of emerging new industries."

KOTRA CEO Kim Jae-hong encouraged more foreign investment in Korea in his opening speech by saying that “although the Korean economy is faced with difficulties such as declining exports, increasing FDI is fueling the growth of the Korean economy.”