HD Hyundai XiteSolution to join land minister's trip to Ukraine
Vasyl Shkurakov, front-left, first deputy minister for communities, territories and infrastructure development of Ukraine, examines an excavator at HD Hyundai Construction Equipment's factory in Ulsan in this June file photo. Courtesy of HD Hyundai Construction Equipment
By Park Jae-hyuk
HD Hyundai XiteSolution will join a Korean business delegation that will visit Ukraine in September to seek post-war reconstruction deals, according to sources familiar with the matter, Thursday. The delegation will be led by Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Won Hee-ryong.
The construction equipment manufacturing unit of HD Hyundai, which has HD Hyundai Infracore and HD Hyundai Construction Equipment as subsidiaries, will send a senior executive in charge of sales to the war-torn country.
Because the Korean government intends to limit the delegation's size for safety reasons, HD Hyundai XiteSolution will send only one executive.
In July, HD Hyundai XiteSolution CEO Cho Young-cheul and HD Hyundai Construction Equipment Chief Sales Officer Moon Jae-young attended a meeting in Poland for Ukraine's reconstruction projects, which was attended by Won, as well as President Yoon Suk Yeol, who paid an unexpected visit to Ukraine at that time.
HD Hyundai XiteSolution also held a meeting between Cho and Ukrainian Ambassador to Korea Dmytro Ponomarenko in July at HD Hyundai Global R&D Center in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province.
In June, Moon met with the Ukrainian delegation led by Vasyl Shkurakov, first deputy minister for communities, territories and infrastructure development of Ukraine, when they visited HD Hyundai Construction Equipment's factory in Ulsan to discuss the potential supply of construction equipment to help restore the war-torn country.
As the company holds around a 20 percent share of the Ukrainian market, HD Hyundai XiteSolution aims to supply at least 40 percent of the 14,000 machines that will be needed over the next five years for the reconstruction efforts.
“In addition to our construction equipment, our generator engines and mobile generators will be helpful in rebuilding Ukraine,” HD Hyundai said in a press release. “For our company to immediately push ahead with the reconstruction project at the right time, we will seek close cooperation with the Ukrainian government.”
The land ministry has yet to disclose the list of companies that will join the minister's upcoming trip.
However, the business delegation is expected to include executives from major construction firms, which sent their representatives to Poland last month.
“Nothing has been decided yet, but we are considering joining the delegation,” a Hyundai E&C official said.
In July, Hyundai E&C signed a memorandum of understanding with Ukraine's Boryspil International Airport for reconstruction and expansion projects, while Samsung C&T signed a smart city development deal with Lviv, a city in western Ukraine.
A Kolon Global official said the company also continued talks related to this issue, since it participated in July's meeting in Poland for Ukraine's reconstruction projects.
Earlier this week, the government announced it has tentatively allocated 520 billion won ($393 million) of the state budget to be used in various support programs for Ukraine next year, including reconstruction-related projects. The amount is over an eightfold increase from 62.9 billion won for this year.