• KOREAN AUTO PARTS
  MAKERS ESTABLISH
  PARTNERSHIP WITH JLR
•    On May 31, the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA) kicked off Korea Autoparts Plaza 2017 at the British Motor Museum in Coventry, England. The two-day event was held to boost exports of Korean auto parts to Britain’s biggest carmaker Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), amid dwindling exports to China and looming renegotiations of the Korea-US FTA.
     A total of 18 Korean SMEs that manufacture auto parts for self-driving cars, engines and powertrains, as well as body exterior and interior
• parts, participated in KOTRA’s first partnering event with the British luxury automaker. JLR's CEO Ralf Speth and some 100 buyers from the company’s headquarters in the U.K., Slovakia, India and China also joined the event. Buyers learned about the status of Korea’s automobile industry and auto parts businesses and engaged in one-on-one export meetings with promising Korean companies.
     By accessing JLR’s supply chain, KOTRA believes Korean firms will be able to make inroads into the global premium auto parts amarket.

• KOREA’S FUTURE CAR
  TECHNOLOGIES DRAW
  ATTENTION FROM
  FOREIGN INVESTORS
•    On June 8, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) and Invest KOREA (IK), KOTRA's foreign investment promotion agency, held the Pinpoint Investment Meeting on Future Vehicles at InterContinental Seoul COEX to promote Korea’s innovative technologies and attract foreign investment.
     The event was attended by about 120 people including foreign correspondents, foreign-invested companies and foreign investors from
• Japan’s Mitsubishi Electric, France’s Segula and Austria’s AVL LIST GmbH. Participants learned about Korea’s future car industry trends, market size, government policies, investment environments and business opportunities.
     To induce foreign investment, Yong Kook Kim, Head of IK, emphasized that the agency will actively support Korean firms armed with leading-edge competitiveness and innovative technologies.

• KOTRA HOLDS
  INVESTMENT FORUM
  TO STRENGTHEN
  KOREA-US RELATIONS
•    On the sidelines of the SelectUSA Investment Summit, KOTRA held the Korea-US Industry Investment Cooperation Forum on June 20 in Washington D.C. The Summit is the largest investment attraction event in America, dedicated to promoting foreign direct investment in the United States. Under the theme “Growth with US”, this year’s event provided a venue for Korean and global companies to learn more about America’s changing investment environment and promising industries.
     The Korea-US Industry Investment Cooperation Forum was comprised of presentations on the tax system and trade policy reforms of the Trump administration, as well as the investment environments of different states. Government officials stressed
• that the new administration’s deregulation and tax exemption measures have made it easier for foreign companies to do business in the country. Korean companies also learned more about various incentives they can receive in the United States. One-on-one investment consultation sessions took place after the forum.
     “In response to the ‘America First’ policies and shifting economic environment, KOTRA held this forum to discover new business opportunities for our Korean companies,” said Wonksuk Yun, Executive Vice President for Business Information and Trade at KOTRA. “On that note, KOTRA will do our best to support Korean companies who want to explore new channels of economic cooperation.”

• KOTRA KICKS OFF
  LARGE-SCALE JOB FAIR IN
  VANCOUVER
•    KOTRA kicked off the 2017 Vancouver Job Fair on June 21 in Vancouver, Canada. A total of 23 Canadian companies and 300 Korean job seekers participated in the event. Various companies from the service industry, including finance (TD Canada Trust, RBC, Bank of Montreal), accommodation (Hilton, Sheraton, Sandman Hotel Group), retail and distribution (World Duty Free Canada, Winners) and logistics and transportation (UPS, COSHIP) joined the fair. Along with one-on-one job
  
• interviews, career seminars by job market experts were also provided for registered participants.
     Thanks to the Korea-Canada FTA, obtaining a work permit in Canada has become easier especially for software engineers, system engineers and business system analysts. The bilateral trade pact, backed by the weakening Canadian dollar, will expand opportunities for economic cooperation and act as a catalyst for Korean job seekers to enter the Canadian market.