According to Yonhap News,

(SEOUL=Yonhap News) The Korea-Australia Free Trade Agreement, which went into effect December 12, will help Korean companies make inroads into Australia’s government procurement market, which is worth KRW 40 trillion.

According to a report on the current status of this market and measures to enter it by the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA) on December 12, the effectuation of the bilateral FTA has substantially reduced barriers to the Australian procurement market.

The annual Australian government procurement market is worth about KRW 40 trillion, and 15 percent accounts for procurement by foreign companies.

The participation of Korean companies in the Australian market has been small, as Australia is not a member of the Government Procurement Agreement (GPA) of the World Trade Organization (WTO).

The bilateral FTA includes a provision on the mutual openness of the procurement markets of the two countries, which will give Korean companies an edge to enter the Australian procurement market.

Also, bidding conditions prohibit procurement participants from submitting information about their past procurement performance. Therefore, the bidding will not be less advantageous to Korean companies that have no bidding experience in Australia.

Some of the promising items for entering Australia’s government procurement market include photocopying paper, LED lights and electronic blackboards, according to KOTRA.

KOTRA recommended that companies unable to establish overseas offices and without bidding experience cooperate with local companies in Australia and participate in the bidding as a subcontractor.

"As the Korea-Australia FTA went into effect earlier than expected, we have an opportunity to dominate the Australian market in advance of our competitors, including Japan and China," said Kim Kijoon, Director of KOTRA’s Development Market Research Team.

hoonkim@yna.co.kr

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Source Text

Source: Yonhap News (December. 11, 2014)

** This article was translated from the Korean.