"Not Afraid of COVID-19"... Gyeonggi-do Supports SMEs with 'Online Export Assistance'

[Asia Economy (Uijeongbu) = Reporter Lee Young-gyu] Gyeonggi Province is promoting the 'Export Company Online Exhibition Support Project,' selecting about 60 companies and providing 5 million KRW per company to help small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the province, which have been contracted due to COVID-19, to develop overseas markets.

This project was introduced for the first time this year to support the export activities of SMEs in the province through untact (non-face-to-face) marketing using online platforms, as it has become difficult to develop offline overseas sales channels due to the spread of COVID-19.

Participating companies can introduce their excellent products to overseas buyers and conduct export consultations as well as propose transactions without directly participating in overseas exhibitions through Trade Korea (www.tradekorea.com), an online B2B (Business to Business) platform operated by the Korea International Trade Association.

The support targets are SMEs with business sites or factories in the province whose export performance last year was 20 million USD or less. The province will select about 60 companies and support up to 5 million KRW per company.

Selected companies will receive abundant services such as entry into the online excellent product hall, construction of foreign language websites, production of product videos and catalogs reflecting the latest trends, search engine marketing through keyword analysis, production and sending of promotional e-DM (direct mail), close support for transaction mediation, video consultations, and trade practices related to export contracts.

SMEs wishing to participate can apply online through the Gyeonggi Province Export Support Policy Project Management System (www.egbiz.or.kr) by the 20th of this month.

The province plans to select the final support targets by comprehensively judging export preparation status, acquisition of overseas standard certifications and domestic patents, export performance, product competitiveness, and marketability through screening.

Kim Gyu-sik, Director of Economic Planning at the province, said, "Due to COVID-19, conventional overseas market development activities such as participation in overseas exhibitions and delegations and changes in business partners have become very difficult. Through the online exhibition support project, we will do our best to minimize the gap in overseas market development activities of small and medium export companies and produce tangible results for companies in the province."

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