What Is This Year's Export Strategy?... KOTRA Holds Online Meeting with Overseas Regional Headquarters Chiefs

[Asia Economy Reporter Suyeon Woo] KOTRA held the "2021 Overseas Regional Headquarters Directors Meeting" for two days starting on the 18th to discuss market entry strategies and support measures for overseas markets.

On the 19th, KOTRA announced that various strategic plans for exports this year were presented at the meeting, which was attended via video conference by 10 overseas regional headquarters directors from around the world and key department heads from the headquarters. First, the strategies included ▲ responding to new normal demands caused by COVID-19 (home economy, consumer goods, medical quarantine, etc.) ▲ entering rapidly growing e-commerce platforms due to movement restrictions ▲ advancing into digital and green new deal sectors utilizing major countries’ economic stimulus packages ▲ overseas expansion of materials, parts, and equipment industries and attracting investment in advanced industries in response to the Global Value Chain (GVC), reflecting regional characteristics and market opportunities.

By region, China is promoting the dual circulation strategy aimed at revitalizing an open domestic market, so cooperation is expected to expand in digital, consumer goods, distribution, and medical bio sectors. The European region anticipates increased demand for digital equipment such as 5G, which had been delayed due to conservative characteristics, along with eco-friendly sectors like green mobility and the hydrogen economy. The North American region is noted for potential cooperation in future industries such as future cars, medical bio, and ICT, while Southeast Asia is highlighted for opportunities arising from the RCEP implementation and GVC restructuring.

KOTRA held the '2021 Overseas Regional Headquarters Directors Meeting' for two days starting from the 18th. This year, President Kwon Pyung-oh (right in the photo), along with 10 regional headquarters directors from around the world and key department heads from the headquarters, participated via video conference. Photo by KOTRA

The global economy in 2021 is expected to grow by 4-5% due to major countries’ economic stimulus measures, COVID-19 vaccine distribution, and pent-up consumer demand. The speed of global economic recovery will be influenced by various factors such as the effects of Bidenomics, the nature of the US-China dispute, and climate change responses, but the biggest variable remains the uncertainty surrounding COVID-19. This is because it is still difficult to predict the speed of vaccine distribution and the extent of side effects.

Accordingly, KOTRA assumed three phases for the COVID-19 containment period?first half, third quarter, and year-end?and predicted that the timing of normalization by region will vary depending on vaccine distribution status. Based on this, KOTRA plans to adjust the proportion of face-to-face and non-face-to-face export and investment support projects according to each scenario by region and to promptly promote O2O (online-to-offline) integrated projects.

Kwon Pyung-oh, President of KOTRA, said, "This year, we must closely monitor the changing environment amid increased uncertainties compared to last year, such as the strengthening of new trade orders including labor and environment in the US and Europe, continued GVC restructuring, and exchange rate volatility. We will focus on reflecting customer experience in services through the digital transformation of export support services this year and strive to enhance companies’ export vitality through combined online and offline projects tailored to regional characteristics."

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