[New Year's Address] Gu Ja-yeol, Chairman of the Korea Federation of SMEs, "Structural Transition Should Be an Opportunity to Secure Future Growth Engines"

Koo Ja-yeol, Chairman of the Korea International Trade Association

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeong Hyunjin] Koo Ja-yeol, Chairman of the Korea International Trade Association (KITA), ahead of the New Year, said, "Let us take the structural transition period as an opportunity to secure new future growth engines and prepare more thoroughly," and stated that he will focus on innovating the trade structure and enhancing member companies' competitiveness to increase the dynamism of exports.

Chairman Koo made these remarks in his pre-announced "2022 New Year's Address" on the 30th. He evaluated, "Despite the COVID-19 crisis this year, we achieved record-high export performance and reached the $1 trillion trade milestone in the shortest period simultaneously," adding, "We have achieved a qualitative leap beyond quantitative growth."

He emphasized, "We are facing new challenges in the process of overcoming the COVID crisis." He said, "Major advanced countries are competitively rolling out policies to strengthen domestic manufacturing capabilities, and recently, due to abnormal weather and surging demand, raw material supply has become unstable, making securing a stable supply chain an even more important task."

Chairman Koo also mentioned that the weakening of the multilateral trade order, the US-China hegemonic rivalry, and the intensification of nationalism and protectionism have emerged, along with new areas such as environment, digital, labor, and human rights becoming major trade issues, leading to fiercer competition among countries to preempt international norms in each field. He added that with the full-scale discussion on carbon neutrality, the innovation of industrial structures centered on low carbon has become an irreversible era task.

Chairman Koo stated, "We must take the structural transition period as an opportunity to secure new future growth engines and prepare more thoroughly." He said, "We will strengthen digital-based member services, focus our capabilities on resolving trade field difficulties, and introduce an online platform specialized in trade grievance counseling to broadly listen to the voices of member companies."

He continued that by expanding customized trade information services using big data and artificial intelligence (AI) and strengthening non-face-to-face digital marketing support, they will enhance the export capabilities of small and medium-sized enterprises while resolving on-site difficulties triggered by COVID-19, such as businesspeople's entry and exit and export-import logistics issues. He also emphasized that by timely providing new trade norm information and closely supporting companies' responses to trade frictions, they will faithfully serve as a bridge between the government and industry to secure a stable supply chain.

To expand the scope of trade, he added that they will support startups to grow into global unicorn companies through open innovation with global companies and focus on nurturing trade personnel reflecting the demands of the corporate field and new trade trends.

Chairman Koo said, "Although the world economy and global trade are gradually recovering, uncertainties in domestic and international economic conditions remain high," adding, "The economic environment changes that began with the COVID pandemic demand more bold and innovative changes especially from companies among many economic actors. At times like this, we must pioneer new paths to overcome crises with insight that penetrates the era and a spirit of challenge."

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