KOIMA celebrates 47th anniversary
Korea Importers Association Chairman Shin Myoung-jin, front row seventh from left, poses with ambassadors in Korea during its 47th anniversary event held at Westin Chosun Seoul, Wednesday. / Courtesy of Korea Importers Association
By Jhoo Dong-chan
The Korea Importers Association (KOIMA) held its 47th anniversary event at the Westin Chosun Seoul, Wednesday. At the event _ on the eighth Import Day _ the organization vowed to put forth greater efforts to facilitate the nation’s importers.
KOIMA Chairman Shin Myoung-jin and 40 ambassadors to Korea, including those from the Netherlands, Canada, Mexico and Indonesia, attended the event alongside 150 government officials and foreign businesspeople.
During a welcoming speech, Trade Minister Paik Un-gyu expressed his gratitude to KOIMA for its decades-long initiatives to import quality raw materials, the backbone of the country’s exports-driven economy.
“Imports and exports are like two sides of the same coin,” Shin said.
“The nation’s trade volume has returned to the $1 trillion mark after n three years. Without KOIMA member companies’ utmost efforts, it wouldn’t be possible. KOIMA will keep striving to expand the nation’s trade with other countries.”
KOIMA also awarded 16 business officials for their contributions to facilitating trade.
Established as the Korea Export Offer Association in November 1970, KOIMA currently has 8,500 member firms in various business fields.
Last month, KOIMA and the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA) jointly held the Korea-Sri Lanka B2B Trade Fair in which 50 Sri Lankan companies and 30 domestic companies participated.
Shin also met Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena to discuss possible collaboration to increase trade between the two countries.
He was elected as the Seoul-based organization’s chairman in March last year.
“The Korean economy depends very much on trade. Our trade volume is almost tantamount to our GDP,” a KOIMA official said.
“Most people are well aware of the significance of exports to our economy. But without proper imports, an increase of exports is impossible. We will try to teach people the importance of imports, too.”