BJFEZ to make 10-year long-term plans

By Kim Da-ye

Staff reporter

The Busan Jinhae Free Economic Zone (BJFEZ) aims to become the world’s center of logistics and business by providing crucial footholds for enterprises.

The BJFEZ authority said this “future” city will thus attract state-of-the-art technologies and provide a convenient corporate environment.

It already has a well-built infrastructure including an airport and ports that are adjacent to the market with 8 million consumers. Transportation is not a concern as there are links from ferry to train to plane.

Its outreach is already regional by easily connecting with 60 ports in Japan, 45 in China and five in Russia.

Busan is the world’s No. 5th largest city in terms of the amount of containers handled. Furthermore, 90 percent of the shipbuilding industry and 41.9 percent of the domestic car manufacturing are located in the vicinity.

As of March 2010, its operators succeeded in attracting 53 projects worth $5.27 billion which include $1.6 billion from 25 projects involving automobiles, ship parts and machinery and $2.5 billion from building new ports.

The authorities aim to lure foreign investment worth $10 billion as soon as possible by “selecting and focusing” on the projects that have already been analyzed and prioritized.

A detailed mid-and long-term business plan that outlines goals leading up to 2020 will soon be prepared.

“It has been six years since we set up the authority in 2004, but we still have much to do to firmly be established as a global business center.” Ha Myeong-keun, the newly appointed commissioner of BJFEZ, said. “By creating legal, systematic support infrastructure that meets global standards, we hope to cater to businesses and tailor our services to meet their needs.”