Jo Joohyun, Vice Minister of SMEs and Startups, Requests Support for APEC Member Countries' Busan World Expo

Attendance at APEC SME Ministers' Meeting
Full-scale Support Activities for '2030 Busan World Expo' Initiated

Cho Ju-hyun, Vice Minister

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Cheol-hyun] The Ministry of SMEs and Startups (Minister Lee Young) announced that Vice Minister Jo Joo-hyun actively promoted the Busan World Expo during the 28th Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) SME Ministerial Meeting held in Phuket, Thailand, from the 9th to the 10th.

On the 9th, Vice Minister Jo began with meetings with representatives from Thailand, Indonesia, and the United States, attended the APEC SME Ministerial Meeting, and also held a bilateral meeting with the Vietnamese representative. All four countries involved in these meetings are members of the International Bureau of Expositions and have voting rights in the final host selection.

During the meetings, Vice Minister Jo engaged in in-depth discussions with each country's representatives on strengthening cooperation in the SME sector in the post-COVID-19 era. He then explained the outline of the Korean government's efforts to host the 2030 Busan World Expo and requested their interest and support.

Indonesia, Vietnam, and Thailand cooperate with the Ministry of SMEs and Startups based on the Korea-ASEAN Startup Partnership. This partnership was established following the Korea-ASEAN Special Summit held in Busan in 2019. Discussions with the United States are actively ongoing to support the local market entry of promising domestic SMEs and startups.

Vice Minister Jo stated, "With the submission of the bid plan on the 7th, the competition for hosting has officially intensified, and we will continue to actively carry out outreach activities for the Busan World Expo."

Meanwhile, this APEC SME Ministerial Meeting was the first face-to-face meeting since the outbreak of COVID-19, with discussions held under the theme "Inclusive Recovery of APEC SMEs through Bio-Circular-Green Economy Models."

At the meeting, Vice Minister Jo introduced Korea's digital transformation policies for SMEs and small business owners related to "inclusive digital innovation." A representative inclusive digital innovation policy presented was the Win-Win Smart Factory Support Project. Specifically, through this project, production technology know-how from large corporations was transferred to SMEs producing quarantine supplies such as masks and vaccine syringes, improving productivity and contributing to the nation's COVID-19 response.

He also shared various digital transformation policies tailored for small business owners with weak digital capabilities, such as customized education and support for online market development. He emphasized that to reduce the burden of card payment fees on small business owners, a simple payment system (Zero Pay) utilizing fintech technology is being provided.

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