Key to Successful New Northern Expansion: "Close Partnerships and Intergovernmental Cooperation Are Essential"

[Asia Economy Reporter Changhwan Lee] The Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) announced on the 29th that it held a 'New Northern Market Entry Companies Meeting' by inviting Yeo Hangoo, Head of the Northern Economic Cooperation Committee Support Group (Blue House Secretary for New Southern and New Northern Policy), at the Namdaemun Chamber of Commerce Building in Seoul.

Woo Taehee, Executive Vice Chairman of KCCI, stated, "There is a preconceived notion that the business environment in the New Northern regions such as Russia and Kazakhstan is poor, and the achievements of market entry have not been properly evaluated. This year, being the inaugural year of 'New Northern Cooperation,' it is very meaningful to share the economic cooperation achievements and success factors in the New Northern region and to discuss the future expansion of market entry together with the government and companies."

Yeo Hangoo, Head of the Northern Economic Cooperation Support Group, said, "The cooperation fields with New Northern countries are diversifying from energy and infrastructure sectors such as plants, construction, and shipbuilding to healthcare, agriculture, and food industries, and participating companies are expanding from large corporations to startups and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The government will spare no effort to support the promotion of private economic cooperation with the New Northern region." He added, "Together with related ministries, we will actively work to support our companies' market entry and investment and resolve difficulties by utilizing intergovernmental cooperation channels in the New Northern region."

Bang Seongjong, Head of Overseas Infrastructure Development Business Group at SK Engineering & Construction, presented a case study on the 900 billion KRW 'Almaty Ring Road in Kazakhstan,' stating, "Public-private partnership (PPP) projects in emerging New Northern countries have high uncertainty and require a long time to secure contracts. Maintaining friendly networks with the ordering government, multilateral development banks, and contractors, and sharing risks were key to success."

Gu Kyungryong, Head of Food Materials Division at POSCO International, also said, "The Ukrainian market, which has abundant grain production, is very important in the food business sector, which is spotlighted as a future new industry. We were able to secure logistics competitiveness for grain procurement by strategically building local networks in Ukraine."

Ko Yooseok, Head of Petrochemical Sales Office at Hyundai Engineering, emphasized, "The background for winning the 3.4 trillion KRW Turkmenistan petrochemical plant project was the high-level diplomatic support from the government, including three visits to the site by the President of Turkmenistan. Active support from our government is crucial to strengthen negotiation power with the host country government."

Nam Woonsung, CEO of CUBox, an AI facial recognition innovative technology startup, introduced their participation case in the Russian smart city project. Nam said, "Russia's basic technology is top-level, but its experience in application and industrialization is relatively lacking. Korean companies have strengths in rapid product development and commercialization, making them the most suitable cooperation partners." He emphasized the importance of the 'Korea-Russia Innovation Platform,' which actively supports SMEs' entry into the global market, to increase such success cases.

Oh Eunkyung, Director of the Eurasia-Turkic Research Institute at Dongduk Women's University, advised, "In Central Asia, including Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan, the risks are so high that business promotion is difficult to protect unless managed and supervised by the highest national authorities. Government-to-government cooperation is very important for the success of our companies' local market entry."

The meeting was attended by large corporations such as SK Engineering & Construction, POSCO International, Hyundai Engineering, as well as mid-sized and small enterprises including Orion, Hanshin Engineering & Construction, Himchan Hospital, and CUBox.