[New Year's Address] Kim Young-joo, Chairman of KITA, "We Will Do Our Best to Restore Export Vitality"

"Significant Changes Expected in Trade Order with Biden Administration Inauguration"
"Resolving Trade Field Difficulties with Customized Solutions for Each Company"
"Researching Promising New Businesses... Presenting Future Trade Strategies"

[Asia Economy Reporter Yoonju Hwang] Kim Young-joo, Chairman of the Korea International Trade Association, stated, "Next year, we will do our best to ensure that our trade, at a turning point, quickly overcomes the COVID-19 crisis and regains export vitality."

In his 2021 New Year's address, Chairman Kim said, "With the inauguration of the Biden administration in the United States, multilateral cooperation is being emphasized, and issues such as digital, environment, and labor are newly emerging, signaling significant changes in the existing trade order."

Chairman Kim first said he would devote all efforts to resolving difficulties in the trade field. To help Korean companies pioneer export markets, we plan to provide buyer-seller matching and promising product AI reports through an AI-based platform, customized for each company.

He said, "We will provide close support to minimize the difficulties faced by businesspeople in overseas entry and exit and export-import logistics processes due to COVID-19," adding, "We will combine face-to-face and non-face-to-face marketing to reduce costs and increase results."

Secondly, he promised to analyze changes and risk factors in the trade environment after COVID-19 and present future growth strategies for Korean trade through research on promising new industries and strategic markets.

He emphasized, "We will prepare response strategies for global trade issues such as digital trade norms, carbon border adjustment tax, and WTO reform, and support the enhancement of our companies' trade response capabilities," adding, "In line with the launch of the new U.S. administration, we will expand private economic cooperation and improve market accessibility to create new business opportunities."

He also stated that efforts would be made to expand the scope of trade through social activities utilizing trade center infrastructure. Chairman Kim said, "We will build an innovative ecosystem for startups and promote open innovation among member companies, while actively supporting the overseas expansion and global scale-up of our startups," adding, "We will develop customized training courses reflecting the needs of the business field and maximize the effectiveness of trade workforce development through combined online and offline education."

He continued, "As the non-face-to-face economy becomes widespread and collaboration beyond borders based on digital becomes routine, the role of trade will become even more important amid changing trends."

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