Governor Kim Taeheum of Chungnam Departs for Europe to Attract 100 Billion Won in Foreign Investment and Prepare for Universiade

Visiting France and Germany for Investment Agreements and Startup Incubation Models
"Fulfilling International Commitments for Chungnam's Future"

Kim Taeheum, Governor of Chungnam Province / Photo by Lee Byungryul, Asia Economy Chungcheong Coverage Headquarters

Kim Taeheum, Governor of Chungnam Province, departed for a five-night, seven-day business trip to France and Germany starting on July 23, aiming for the successful hosting of the 2027 Chungcheong Region World University Games (Universiade) and to attract foreign investment worth 100 billion won.

Before his departure, Governor Kim held a press conference on July 22 to announce support measures for recovery from heavy rain damage. He stated, "My heart is heavy," but explained, "This trip is not simply to receive the host city flag, but to identify areas for improvement in the preparation process in advance."

He particularly emphasized, "We are pursuing a schedule to attract foreign investment of about 100 billion won in France," and added, "Measures for damage recovery have already been established, and the Vice Governor for Administration, city and county officials, as well as working-level departments, are systematically responding to restore daily life."

According to Chungnam Province on July 23, Governor Kim will begin his trip with a meeting with Chairman B of Company A in Paris, France, followed by investment agreements with Company A and Belgian Company C.

The province plans to use these efforts to move closer to achieving its investment attraction goal of 45 trillion won during the 8th popularly elected administration.

In addition, he will visit 'Station F' in Paris, known as the world's largest startup incubator. This former railway depot, transformed into a startup campus, is now home to about 1,000 startups aspiring to become unicorn companies.

The province intends to benchmark this model and explore ways to apply it to its own administration.

Governor Kim Taeheum's Europe Business Trip Schedule

Governor Kim will visit Germany to meet with Billy Frettl, CEO of German company Frettl, which has signed an export contract worth 460 billion won with local startup GnT. They will discuss ways to strengthen cooperation.

Frettl is a global company that produces automotive parts and solar inverters, operates in 25 countries, and employs approximately 13,000 people.

Governor Kim also plans to discuss the possibility of Frettl Group entering the Korean market in the future and investing in the Chungnam region.

On July 27, he will attend the Universiade flag handover ceremony to reaffirm his commitment to the successful hosting of the Chungcheong Region Games.

A provincial official stated, "Through this trip, we plan to broadly examine ▲attracting foreign investment ▲strengthening human networks with European companies ▲startup and venture incubation strategies ▲event operation strategies ▲models for utilizing idle urban spaces," and added, "Although these are challenging times both internally and externally, by fulfilling our international commitments, we can lay the foundation for Chungnam's future development."

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