Korean businesspeople seeking RI partners

Korean businesspeople seeking RI partners

JAKARTA (JP): Eight people representing small and medium
businesses from Kumi city, South Korea, are seeking partners in
Indonesia to set up electronics and clothing joint ventures.

Kumi Mayor Kwan-Yong Kim, who headed the trade mission, said
yesterday the delegation represented about 1,000 small and medium
businesses in Kumi which were searching for similar partners in
Indonesia.

Kumi, in southeastern South Korea, is known as the South
Korean center for electronics, where big electronics firms such
as Samsung and Goldstar are headquartered. The city contributes
about 8 percent of South Korea's total exports.

Kim said high wages in South Korea had forced firms to move
their factories to low-wage countries.

Some big companies from Kumi, including Samsung and Goldstar,
are operating in Indonesia.

The director of the South Korean Trade Center's Jakarta
office, Seok-Hyun Park, said Indonesian businesspeople interested
in partnerships with those from Kumi's small and medium
businesses need not worry about market prospects since their
joint ventures would produce goods for companies like Samsung and
Goldstar.

The Kumi mayor said his municipality had opened a new park for
industrial projects, including foreign investors'.

The delegation will depart here tomorrow to continue its
mission in Dubai, Amman and Amsterdam. (jsk)