Yoon Directly Oversees the 'Deficit Swamp' in Trade

President Yoon Presides Over the '1st Export Strategy Meeting'

President Yoon Seok-yeol Presiding Over the 1st Export Strategy Meeting
(Seoul=Yonhap News) Reporter Seo Myeong-gon = President Yoon Seok-yeol is speaking at the 1st Export Strategy Meeting held at the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA) in Yangjae-dong, Seocho-gu, Seoul on the 23rd. 2022.11.23 [Photo by the Presidential Office Press Photographers Group]
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[Asia Economy Sejong=Reporter Lee Jun-hyung] President Yoon Seok-yeol has taken direct charge of trade issues and launched efforts to "revive exports." The reason President Yoon ordered the convening of the Export Strategy Meeting and personally presided over it, following the Emergency Economic and Livelihood Meeting, is his judgment that the only solution to the domestic economic crisis caused by the triple hardships of high inflation, high interest rates, and high exchange rates is "exports." The government plans to mobilize the full capabilities of all ministries to restore exports.

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy announced on the 23rd that it held the "1st Export Strategy Meeting" chaired by President Yoon. On that day, President Yoon, along with key officials from economic ministries and private experts, reviewed the export situation and examined customized export strategies by region and country.

The core of the "Major Export Region Specialized Strategies" disclosed by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy that day centers on the three major key markets and three major strategic markets. First, the three major key markets? the United States, China, and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)?accounting for 57% of domestic exports, focused on "expanding exports." In the ASEAN market, to alleviate the concentration of exports on Vietnam and consumer goods, the government plans to diversify markets to countries such as Thailand and support winning large-scale infrastructure projects like the Indonesian capital relocation project.

For China, the country's largest trading partner, the key is to reduce dependence on China. To diversify trade and investment with China, the government plans to provide targeted support for companies operating locally to return to Korea or relocate to third countries. In the United States, the focus will be on responding to trade issues such as the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and semiconductor export controls against China.

The three major strategic markets, including the Middle East, emphasized strengthening inter-country cooperation. In particular, in Saudi Arabia, based on 26 memorandums of understanding (MOUs) signed during Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's recent visit to Korea, the government will support the expansion of projects in energy and infrastructure sectors such as the "NEOM City." As a Latin American strategy, there is a plan to sign a new free trade agreement (FTA) with Mexico. Among Korea's top 10 export countries, Mexico is the only country without an FTA, excluding Taiwan and Hong Kong. The major Europe export strategy focuses on expanding exports of nuclear power plants and defense industry products.

Additionally, the government plans to hold a monthly "Export Support Council" to strengthen inter-ministerial collaboration. The Export Support Council will review each ministry's export support plans and the status of collaborative task implementation.

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