KOTRA Opens Trade Office in Atlanta, USA

Global Supply Chain Response and Support for Companies Entering the US Market

[Asia Economy Reporter Jin-ho Kim] KOTRA announced that on the 31st (local time), it opened a trade office in Atlanta, the economic hub of the southeastern United States.

About 30 prominent local economic figures participated in the opening ceremony of the trade office, including KOTRA Vice President Su-deuk Son, Consul General Yoon-joo Park in Atlanta, and Pat Wilson, Secretary of the Georgia Department of Economic Development. The ceremony was held simply while adhering to quarantine rules considering the COVID-19 situation.

The Atlanta trade office has jurisdiction over four southeastern U.S. states?Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, and Alabama?as well as parts of the Caribbean region. Its purpose is to expand industrial cooperation between Korea and the U.S. and support the local advancement of Korean companies.

First, to respond to the global supply chain risks deepening recently due to COVID-19 and geopolitical factors, the trade office plans to strengthen logistics cooperation between the two countries after its opening. Atlanta is a representative logistics hub, home to the Port of Savannah, ranked 4th in U.S. cargo volume, and the headquarters of UPS.

Additionally, Atlanta is a leading life sciences industry hub, centered around the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) headquarters, with 375 research institutes and companies employing 26,000 people. With 141 Health IT companies and 196 medical device manufacturers located there, the industrial base is solid, and the Atlanta trade office will support building cooperative relationships with our biohealth companies.

Furthermore, leveraging its geographical advantage for easy access to the Latin American region, Atlanta is emerging as a new production base in the automotive and secondary battery sectors, and plans are actively being made to support our companies accordingly.

In particular, the Atlanta trade office will operate the "Southeastern U.S. Investment and Entry Base Center" on a regular basis through collaboration with local institutions to minimize difficulties and trial-and-error that Korean companies may face in the early stages of market entry.

Vice President Son stated, "The Atlanta trade office will serve as an outpost supporting our companies' business in the southeastern U.S. region," adding, "We will do our best to secure logistics bases for stable supply of raw and subsidiary materials."

Meanwhile, at the opening ceremony, KOTRA signed a memorandum of understanding with the Georgia Department of Economic Development. The two organizations plan to jointly host various projects such as mutual visits of trade and investment delegations, seminars, and exhibitions to expand trade in the future.

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