'Kim Dong-yeon on Australia Business Trip, Attracts 5.3 Trillion Won Investment... Gyeonggi-do's Largest Ever'

Gyeonggi Province Governor Kim Dong-yeon (center) is taking a commemorative photo on the 29th at the KOTRA Sydney Trade Center in Sydney, Australia, after signing a Letter of Intent (LOI) for investment with SPR Vice President Choi Heung-yong and INMARK Global Australia Managing Director Ji Ho-jun.

Kim Dong-yeon, Governor of Gyeonggi Province, currently visiting Australia, has succeeded in attracting investment worth 5.3 trillion KRW. This is the largest amount of investment ever attracted by Gyeonggi Province.

Gyeonggi Province announced that on the 29th, Governor Kim Dong-yeon signed a Letter of Intent (LOI) for the establishment of an eco-friendly high-purity plastic recycling raw material manufacturing facility utilizing LNG cold energy at the KOTRA Sydney Trade Center in Sydney, Australia, with John Ji, Executive Director of INMARK Global, and Choi Heung-yong, Vice President of SPR.

The event was attended by representatives from Australia's Squire Patton Boggs law firm, partner lawyers David Starkoff and Campbell Davidson, Park Chang-eun, head of KOTRA Sydney Trade Center, and Nam Gae-hyun, Director of the Energy Business Headquarters at Korea Gas Technology Corporation.

According to the LOI signed that day, INMARK Global, an eco-friendly specialized investment company, will establish plastic recycling raw material manufacturing facilities in four locations within the province through SPR, a carbon reduction technology venture company. The investment amount is 1 trillion KRW. Additionally, INMARK Global plans to invest an additional 4.3 trillion KRW over the next five years in the province's energy transition and information technology (IT) sectors.

Governor Kim Dong-yeon stated, "Today’s event is a cross-border collaboration under the goal of carbon neutrality," adding, "I expect it will create synergy not only in renewable energy and carbon reduction but also with traditional industries."

Executive Director John Ji said, "Energy transition is becoming an important part of our daily lives, and INMARK is a leader in investment in this field. I hope this investment will lay the foundation for greater cooperation between Korea and Australia," promising, "We will work harder for ESG investment and sustainability investment in the future."

INMARK, established in Sydney in 2006, is an eco-friendly specialized investment company mainly investing in the circular economy, energy transition, and IT sectors. It operates Sydney’s first wind turbine installed on the rooftop of its office building.

SPR, based in Pyeongtaek and receiving the investment, possesses technology to produce high-quality recycled raw materials (rPET chips) used for transparent PET bottles, sheets, and fibers for clothing by utilizing wasted resources such as LNG (liquefied natural gas) cold energy (ultra-low temperature energy). LNG cold energy is ultra-low temperature heat at minus 162 degrees Celsius released during the gasification process of liquefied natural gas, which was previously discarded over 99% into the sea.

SPR uses this wasted LNG cold energy as a main power source for facilities that recycle waste plastic through an ultra-low temperature freezing crushing method. The recycling rate reaches an impressive 93%. In particular, compared to conventional room temperature crushing methods, it can produce plastic flakes of the same quality as new products without chemical molecular structure alteration.

Gyeonggi Province expects that the construction of eco-friendly manufacturing facilities through this investment will contribute to solving environmental problems through resource circulation and revitalizing the local economy by creating jobs.

Moreover, applying recycled plastic raw materials to the textile industry, a specialized industry in northern Gyeonggi, is expected to help reduce export unit costs, open new markets, and create jobs.

Governor Kim Dong-yeon emphasized, "Gyeonggi Province is the center of Korea’s industries such as semiconductors, bio, AI big data, and future cars, but at the same time, it is a very strong region in traditional manufacturing like textiles," adding, "We are driving policies for the development of northern Gyeonggi, which has many traditional manufacturing industries, and this 1 trillion KRW investment attraction can have good potential and synergy effects for northern development."

A Gyeonggi Province official explained, "The additional investment intention of 4.3 trillion KRW, which was disclosed, went through adjustments until the final stages of this Australia trip and faced difficulties," adding, "Governor Kim Dong-yeon actively and concretely explained Gyeonggi Province’s policy will and actions regarding climate change response such as ‘Gyeonggi RE100’ to INMARK Global, which led to the additional investment intention."

Governor Kim announced at the beginning of his term that he would attract over 100 trillion KRW in overseas investment.

Earlier that day, Governor Kim met with CEOs of Australian solar new material companies at the Shangri-La Hotel in Sydney to discuss investment cooperation. This was in response to the company considering an investment of several hundred billion KRW in a solar new material panel factory in the province.