Finance ministry opens export support channel with South Gyeongsang

The finance ministry said its Export Plus Support Team and South Gyeongsang Province opened a standing cooperation channel to deliver tailored support to regional exporters, as a rapidly shifting trade environment makes companies' difficulties more complex and varied.

The two sides held a regional export promotion cooperation meeting at the Gyeongnam Technopark. The Export Plus Support Team is headed by the finance ministry's first vice minister, and attendees included its deputy head, the director general of South Gyeongsang Province's economic and trade bureau, and representatives of KOTRA, the Export-Import Bank of Korea's Gyeongnam support headquarters, the Gyeongnam Technopark and the Gyeongnam Export Club.

"As the trade environment changes rapidly and companies' difficulties become more complex and varied, rapid, tailored responses to demand at regional export sites are very important," Deputy Head Bae Jeong-hoon said. "We will continue to open and expand cooperation channels with local governments, including South Gyeongsang Province."

Kim In-su, the province's economic and trade bureau chief, pointed to logistics and energy instability from the war in the Middle East and growing external uncertainty from the spread of protectionism. "Export conditions for companies in the province are not easy," he said. "We will communicate more closely with the central government than ever to support their exports."

At the meeting, the Gyeongnam Technopark and the Gyeongnam Export Club pressed for stronger cooperation between agencies, and companies raised difficulties in areas including overseas certification and securing workers. In response, the support team outlined regional certification briefings it runs with the industry ministry's certification support team, programs to support young people employed at small and medium-sized regional companies, and an online channel for submitting complaints in real time.

The support team will hold two follow-up briefings in Busan. At 2 p.m., policy financial institutions will introduce their export finance programs at the Busan Trade Center and offer one-on-one consultations to regional exporters that struggle to find or use such information. The Export-Import Bank of Korea, the Korea Trade Insurance Corporation, the Industrial Bank of Korea, the Korea SMEs and Startups Agency, the Korea Technology Finance Corporation, the Korea Credit Guarantee Fund, the Korea Local Credit Guarantee Foundation and Korea Venture Investment Corp. are taking part.

On Oct. 22, the team and the industry ministry's overseas certification support team will jointly hold a briefing at the same venue on foreign technical regulations and certification for the shipbuilding and machinery sectors.

"Since certification and finance are among the main difficulties exporters raise, it is important that the government and related agencies go directly to regional companies that have relatively more trouble obtaining information," Bae said. "We will continue to hold export finance briefings and overseas technical regulation and certification briefings in each region."