Yeongcheon Hanbang Garlic Industrial Special Zone Selected as the Best Regional Special Zone

Achieving Results Including 120% Increase in Sales

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Cheol-hyun] The Ministry of SMEs and Startups (Minister Lee Young) announced on the 13th that it held the '2022 Excellent Regional Special Zone Awards Ceremony and Performance Exchange Meeting' at the Government Sejong Complex Auditorium and awarded 9 outstanding special zone local governments and 9 meritorious persons.

The Ministry of SMEs and Startups evaluated the operational performance and achievements of 184 special zones nationwide this year, selecting 'Yeongcheon Hanbang·Garlic Industry Special Zone' as the best special zone, and 'Hwasun Vaccine Industry Special Zone' and 'Ansan Multicultural Village Special Zone' as excellent special zones.

The selected excellent regional special zones received a total prize money of 800 million KRW along with the Presidential Award, and meritorious persons were awarded commendations from the Minister of SMEs and Startups.

The 'Yeongcheon Hanbang Garlic Industry Special Zone', which won the grand prize, achieved remarkable results such as a 120% increase in sales compared to the previous year through the promotion of Hanbang and garlic specialized projects, focusing on three special exceptions related to the Farmland Act, Pharmaceutical Affairs Act, and Agricultural and Fishery Products Act, developing six new products, and reaching 262 tons in herbal wholesale market transactions.

The 'Hwasun Vaccine Industry Special Zone', which received the excellence award, actively promoted the influenza vaccine business, increasing sales by 22% compared to the previous year. This year, it secured a total of 128.8 billion KRW (5 projects) in new national funding projects and established the only domestic microbial and animal cell vaccine production facility utilizing six regulatory exceptions. The 'Ansan Multicultural Village Special Zone' focused on fostering specialized projects such as creating an international food culture street, achieving results such as a 34% increase in employment even during the COVID-19 situation.

Cho Joo-hyun, Vice Minister of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, said, "The regional specialized development special zone system is an important key to the regional balanced development policy promoted by the current government." He added, "I hope that sharing these excellent special zone cases will provide an opportunity for other local governments to benchmark the exemplary cases of excellent special zones in 2022."

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