KOTRA Expands Video Consultation Booths to 15 Due to COVID-19

KOTRA Video Consultation Room Overview

[Asia Economy Reporter Yoonju Hwang] KOTRA has opened a video consultation center with 15 booths, expanding from the previous number.

KOTRA announced on the 8th that, due to the increased demand for non-face-to-face consultations with overseas buyers caused by the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), it has increased the number of booths in the consultation center at its headquarters in Seocho-gu, Seoul, from 5 to 15.

The consultation center is open from 7 a.m., and thermal cameras and temperature measuring devices are installed at the entrance. A system is in place that allows consultations to be conducted from company offices or homes if visiting in person is difficult.

KOTRA skipped the opening ceremony and held a video consultation meeting between overseas buyers and domestic companies. A total of 85 consultations were conducted between 35 overseas buyer companies from countries including Japan, Russia, Vietnam, Turkey, and Greece, and 70 domestic companies.

In particular, as the world's largest beauty exhibition, the "2020 Italy Bologna Beauty Fair," was postponed from March to September, buyers from the Bologna exhibition participated in the video consultations as a substitute.

A video consultation week linked with industry-specific online special exhibitions built on the export promotion site "BuyKorea (buykorea.org)" was also held.

KOTRA stated that from February 13 to April 6, it conducted 2,343 video consultations, with contracts worth $120 million currently under negotiation, of which $20 million have been confirmed.

Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Sung Yun-mo visited the consultation center in the afternoon to inspect the export support system through online video consultations and encouraged the export companies participating in the video consultations.

Minister Sung held a video conference with the head of KOTRA's Europe regional headquarters through the video consultation system and emphasized the need for meticulous and close support for Korean companies entering the market and export companies amid the worsening COVID-19 outbreak.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.