Kotra offers help to local businesses
JAKARTA (JP): Many foreign businessmen may not know that the Korea Trade Promotion Corporation (Kotra) does much more than promoting exports from South Korea, Seok-Huyn Park, the new director of Kotra in Jakarta says.
"We can help Indonesian businessmen make contacts with Korean companies for trade, investment and various other business deals," Park told The Jakarta Post in an interview.
Park said that Kotra, which was set up in 1962, had initially focused its attention on promoting Korean exports in the world market.
He added that now the Korean economy had evolved, making the promotion of investment and business deals between Korean and foreign businessmen a priority for Kotra.
Kotra, supported by its overseas branches, the Korea Trade Centers, in 82 cities in 64 countries, is thus pushing linkages between the Korean economy and economies abroad.
"The data base in our headquarters in Seoul contains the profiles of more than 200,000 companies; this information can be tapped by Indonesian businessmen. Moreover, here in Jakarta we have all kinds of Korean business directories and company brochures for Indonesian businessmen to peruse," Park said.
Park stressed the importance of his office in view of the highly impressive growth of Indonesian-Korean trade ties and of Korean investments in Indonesia.
Indonesian-Korean trade expanded from only US$1.8 billion in 1989 to more than $6.2 billion in 1995. Korean businesspeople are now one of the largest groups of foreign investors here with a total capital outlay of around $6.4 billion.
"We welcome business inquiries from companies in Indonesia regarding business in Seoul and indeed throughout Korea. Kotra also operates 10 branches across Korea which cooperate closely with provincial governments and businessmen," Park said.
Kotra, for example, can help make preparations for Indonesian business missions intending to visit Korea or for participations in various trade exhibitions.
"We can help brief Indonesian businessmen on Korean import, export and investment procedures and identify potential business partners in Korea," Park added.
Kotra also publishes a wide range of trade and product-related materials. Two of the most popular are Korea Trade and Investment, a bimonthly news magazine designed to keep foreign businessmen abreast of economic developments in Korea, and Korea Trade, a color product catalog for Korean products.
Trade missions
Kotra operates two offices, one at the Seoul airport Kimpo and the other at Pusan airport Kimhae to serve the needs of foreign businessmen and trade and investment missions.
"Indonesian businessmen visiting Korea can receive personal help at Kotra's head office in Seoul to arrange meetings and collect information on Korean products and suppliers," Park said.
Kotra is also active in arranging Korean business missions and trade exhibitions in Indonesia.
"For example, a trade mission from Kyongnam province, led by Governor Kim Hyuk-Kyu, will arrive in Jakarta next week," he said.
The trade delegation, representing 10 companies, will hold a business meeting at the Grand Hyatt Hotel on May 10.
The Kyongnam delegation will be followed on May 13-16 by a trade mission from Taeugu city, headed by Mayor Moon Hi-Gab. That mission is set to feature 20 companies active in the manufacture of machinery, car parts, spectacle frames, fabrics, valve, and car parking systems.
Trade missions from the cities of Pusan, Kwangju, and Suwon are slated to follow between June and October.
"We are also organizing the participation of about 20 Korean companies in the Manufacturing Indonesia 96 exhibition in the Kemayoran exhibition grounds in October," Park noted.
The companies will display a wide range of equipment at this exhibition, including sophisticated machinery for industrial plants, he said.
The Kotra office in Jakarta is located at Jl. Gatot Subroto No. 58 (Tel: 525-1408, Fax: 521-2514). (vin)