Korea is ramping up efforts to help local construction companies tap deeper into the Central and South American market as they suffer from sinking orders from the Middle East thanks to low oil prices, officials said Wednesday.
To that end, Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Kang Ho-in plans to attend the inauguration of the Panama Canal's $5.25 billion expansion slated for June 26 as a special envoy of President Park Geun-hye, a ministry official said.
"Minister Kang will play his role as the special envoy and meet with senior officials from Central and South American countries in a bid to help South Korean builders clinch orders from them," he said.
In Panama, Kang will hold talks with the minister of the Panama Public Works Authority, the president of Panama's state transmission company ETESA and the head of the Panama Canal Authority to discuss ways to boost bilateral cooperation.
The minister is also considering visits to two additional countries in the region, the official said, without naming them.
The efforts are in line with the ministry's recent move to set up a task force on new construction markets such as Central and South America, North America, Africa and Europe.
The establishment of the ministry task force came amid slumping construction orders from the Middle East in the wake of sliding crude prices.
South Korean builders won $11.3 billion worth of overseas orders in the first quarter of 2016, down 15 percent from a year earlier, according to the International Contractors Association of Korea (ICAK).
Kuwait was the sole Middle Eastern country that ranked among the top 10 nations in terms of orders granted to South Korean builders, with Asian, Latin American and North American countries rounding out the list.
The tally shows that South Korea's efforts to diversify its overseas construction market have borne fruit, according to some industry watchers.
In February, POSCO Engineering & Construction, the building arm of South Korea's top steelmaker POSCO, bagged a $650-million contract to build a combined cycle power plant and a gas terminal in Panama.
Others struck a cautious note, saying the outlook for the Latin American construction market is not so bright, as most countries in the region are faced with unstable political and economic situations, including a motion to impeach the president of Brazil and Venezuela's worst economic crisis in history. (Yonhap)
To that end, Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Kang Ho-in plans to attend the inauguration of the Panama Canal's $5.25 billion expansion slated for June 26 as a special envoy of President Park Geun-hye, a ministry official said.
"Minister Kang will play his role as the special envoy and meet with senior officials from Central and South American countries in a bid to help South Korean builders clinch orders from them," he said.
In Panama, Kang will hold talks with the minister of the Panama Public Works Authority, the president of Panama's state transmission company ETESA and the head of the Panama Canal Authority to discuss ways to boost bilateral cooperation.
The minister is also considering visits to two additional countries in the region, the official said, without naming them.
The efforts are in line with the ministry's recent move to set up a task force on new construction markets such as Central and South America, North America, Africa and Europe.
The establishment of the ministry task force came amid slumping construction orders from the Middle East in the wake of sliding crude prices.
South Korean builders won $11.3 billion worth of overseas orders in the first quarter of 2016, down 15 percent from a year earlier, according to the International Contractors Association of Korea (ICAK).
Kuwait was the sole Middle Eastern country that ranked among the top 10 nations in terms of orders granted to South Korean builders, with Asian, Latin American and North American countries rounding out the list.
The tally shows that South Korea's efforts to diversify its overseas construction market have borne fruit, according to some industry watchers.
In February, POSCO Engineering & Construction, the building arm of South Korea's top steelmaker POSCO, bagged a $650-million contract to build a combined cycle power plant and a gas terminal in Panama.
Others struck a cautious note, saying the outlook for the Latin American construction market is not so bright, as most countries in the region are faced with unstable political and economic situations, including a motion to impeach the president of Brazil and Venezuela's worst economic crisis in history. (Yonhap)
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