CEO Message - KOTRA

Greetings from KOTRA.

Since its establishment in 1962 as part of Korea’s first 5-year Economic Plan, KOTRA has worked to create new export markets. We added an investment promotion focus in the late 1990s, supporting Korea as it overcame the Asian financial crisis. Since then, we have taken on new and expanding roles to support Korean companies expanding overseas, to attract foreign professionals, to fulfill our corporate social responsibility (CSR) and to create jobs overseas.
With the vision to be a “global business platform,” we remain devoted today to strengthening the global capabilities of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), to helping Korea become one of the world's five largest trading nations and to contributing to Korea's achieving a trade volume of USD 2 trillion by 2020.
In 2014, the world is expected to recover from the global economic recession. Despite the financial risks faced by emerging countries triggered by the U.S. reduction of quantitative easing, Korea’s economy is expected to recover and see improvements in export conditions as a result of the United States' and EU's economic recovery.
In this light, KOTRA pursues the "ultakdongsi" approach to business, which refers to a hen and to-be-born chick pecking simultaneously at an egg shell to break it. The government and businesses, labor and management and big and small companies must work together in Korea to succeed, to achieve the following: △Establishment of a foundation to achieve $2 trillion in trade volume △Reinforcement of support for overseas advancement △Increase in inbound foreign direct investment △Creation of a national happiness ecosystem.
As we work toward the $2 trillion trade volume mark, we will support domestic businesses striving to become export-driven businesses. We will find promising domestic companies, actively support their export marketing, provide customized support and resolve export-related grievances. Moreover, we will take the lead in new market development by finding high-potential projects in which Korean businesses can participate. Of course, as Korea works toward a creative economy, KOTRA will strive to support new export industries through convergence and integration as well.
This year, we will continue to focus on global mergers and acquisitions as we support the joint overseas expansion of big and small businesses and the globalization of small businesses. With respect to CSR, we aim to build partnerships of sustainable growth with emerging countries by strengthening our global CSR and sharing our experiences of economic development. We will also attract core industries and technologies to increase foreign direct investment in Korea.
Through all this, our goal is for globalizing SMEs to achieve visible results. After all, it is only then that Korea can become one of the world's strongest trading nations.