Incheon Free Economic Zone FDI Reported Amount Reaches 83% of This Year's Target

Fruits of Increased Investment Amid the COVID-19 Pandemic

Incheon Free Economic Zone Songdo International City
[Photo by Incheon Free Economic Zone Authority]

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Hyesook] Due to the impact of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), difficulties have been encountered in attracting investment to the Incheon Free Economic Zone, resulting in this year's foreign direct investment (FDI) reported amount falling slightly short of the target.

According to the Incheon Free Economic Zone Authority on the 18th, the current reported FDI amount for the Incheon Free Economic Zone stands at 547 million dollars, reaching 83% of the annual target amount of 656 million dollars.

This was made possible as EMP Belstar, a U.S. fund management company that invested in the Songdo Cold Chain Cluster in September, additionally reported 300 million dollars for increased investment, and Inspire Integrated Resort from the U.S., which invested in the Yeongjong Inspire Complex Resort on the 12th, also reported an additional 200 million dollars.

The Incheon Free Economic Zone Authority explained that this achievement is significant as it was accomplished amid the global COVID-19 pandemic, during which global economic growth has slowed and domestic and international FDI performance has declined.

The Incheon Free Economic Zone Authority had set this year's FDI reported amount target at 656 million dollars, an increase of 26 million dollars compared to the previous year, and planned to carry out aggressive investment attraction marketing from the beginning of the year.

However, due to the impact of the COVID-19 situation that began in February, the FDI reported amount until August this year was only 30 million dollars, causing difficulties, and thus they have been making every effort to expand investment attraction through online video investment briefings and other means.

This additional investment of over 500 million dollars is also evaluated as the fruit of active investment attraction achieved through discovering new investors via non-face-to-face video marketing and strengthening networking with existing investors.

An official from the Incheon Free Economic Zone Authority stated, "We officially opened the Corporate Support Center last month, which was piloted since August this year, to strengthen one-stop support services for resident companies and unify the investment consultation process," adding, "We will continue to strengthen cooperative relationships with investment companies and make further efforts to support corporate management activities."

Meanwhile, last year's FDI reported amount by the Incheon Free Economic Zone Authority was 906.45 million dollars, accounting for 88.4% of the total FDI reported amount of 1.025 billion dollars across the seven free economic zones nationwide, achieving the highest performance.

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