KOTRA, Local Governments and Regional SMEs Export Support Cooperation Exchange Meeting

KOTRA's 14 Regional Support Centers and Branches, 15 Metropolitan Cities and Provinces Participate in Local Government Collaboration

KOTRA held the '2022 KOTRA-Local Government Local SME Export Support Cooperation Exchange Meeting' on the 8th. Yoo Jung-yeol, President of KOTRA, is delivering a greeting.

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Sun-mi] KOTRA announced on the 8th that it held an export support cooperation exchange meeting with local governments nationwide to discuss ways to expand exports of local small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The event, held at the headquarters in Yeomgok-dong, Seoul, was attended by 14 local support teams and branches of KOTRA as well as local governments from 15 metropolitan cities and provinces.

At this exchange meeting, in-depth discussions were held on ways to strengthen and revitalize the digital export capabilities of local SMEs, as well as strategies to enhance performance through the strategic execution of trade delegations dispatched by local governments.

To enable domestic companies and small business owners located in local areas without export experience to export through digital means, KOTRA introduced various platforms it operates, such as ‘TryBig (Trade and Investment Big Data System)’ and ‘BuyKorea (Online B2B E-commerce Platform).’ In addition, KOTRA shared plans for the ‘Digital Export Comprehensive Support Center’ to bridge the digital export infrastructure gap for local companies and discussed development plans.

The major export support project for local SMEs, the ‘Trade Delegation,’ is also actively transitioning from online to offline as quarantine measures in various countries are eased. Strategies to enhance export effects by organizing delegations strategically and on a larger scale according to the demand identified by 128 overseas trade offices worldwide were also discussed.

Dr. Kim Hyung-joo of LG Economic Research Institute explained the support direction for local SMEs to prepare for the rapidly changing recent global economic situation, including the prolonged Russia-Ukraine conflict and inflation, in a lecture titled ‘Support Strategy for Global Growth of Local SMEs.’

Meanwhile, KOTRA supports the overseas expansion of local SMEs through a one-loop system of local SME export support centers operated by 12 local support teams and 2 branches (Cheonan, Gumi) nationwide. Through various services such as ‘Domestic Companies Export Commercialization,’ which helps domestic companies start exporting, and ‘Mobile KOTRA,’ where KOTRA export specialists visit local export companies to resolve difficulties, about 17,000 local SMEs are supported annually.

KOTRA President Yoo Jung-yeol emphasized, “Local areas are the core axis of South Korea’s economy, accounting for 77.3% of the nation’s total GDP,” and stated, “KOTRA will actively contribute to the overseas expansion of local SMEs and the revitalization of regional economies through close cooperation with local governments.”

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