Kim Hyun-bin began his journalism career at Arirang TV from 2012 to 2017, specializing in defense, foreign affairs and the economy. In 2018, he joined The Korea Times, covering society and business, and is currently responsible for embassy affairs.
KITA calls for eased regulations to boost faltering exports
Koo Ja-yeol, chairman of the Korea International Trade Association, speaks at the 2023 KITA General Meeting held at COEX in Seoul, Wednesday. Courtesy of KITA
By Kim Hyun-bin
By Kim Hyun-bin
Koo Ja-yeol, head of the Korea International Trade Association (KITA), emphasized that the association will do its best to overcome the export crisis by fulfilling its duty as a communication channel, during the 2023 KITA General Meeting held at COEX in Seoul with around 600 representatives of the trade association's member companies in attendance, Wednesday.
"The paradigm of our trade has been changing rapidly in the past few years, becoming a great shock,” Koo said. “The U.S.-China conflict has expanded to technology and supply chains while new trade issues such as carbon neutrality, security, digital and labor are emerging rapidly. Especially last January, exports decreased significantly due to sluggish semiconductors and trade with China, and the trade deficit also recorded a record high."
The chairman emphasized that KITA needs to strengthen its role and enhance communications in related fields.
"We will make the most of the association's global network and resources to hold economic cooperation events with major countries and create tangible results. We will create more business opportunities centered on promising strategic markets such as ASEAN and the Middle East,” he said.
"Based on the public-private joint cooperation system, we will establish strategies to respond to sensitive trade issues and provide country-specific trade information in a timely manner by utilizing digital infrastructure. We will expand consultation opportunities with global companies and provide test beds so that innovative companies and export startup companies can grow into key players in trade.”
At the general meeting, KITA presented “discovering new export engines for a trade paradigm shift” as its business goal for this year and disclosed five major business strategies and detailed plans to overcome the slump in exports.
The five major business strategies include: finding difficulties in trade and providing customized support for SMEs, responding to the new trade order and strengthening global networks, strengthening digital-based services and expanding trade infrastructure, strengthening export competitiveness in accordance with changes in the global trade environment, and fostering new growth export industries and enhancing added value in trade.