'World Central Procurement Agencies Meeting' Resumes in Korea After 5 Years

The 'World Central Procurement Agencies Meeting,' which was suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic, will resume in Korea after five years.

The Public Procurement Service (PPS) announced on the 16th that it will hold the '9th World Central Procurement Agencies Meeting' at KINTEX in Ilsan from the 16th to the 17th.

The World Central Procurement Agencies Meeting is an international consultative body where representative central procurement agencies from continents, including Korea, the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Chile, and Italy, gather to discuss recent issues in the public procurement sector.

The Seoul meeting will be held for the first time in five years since it was suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In line with this, each country will consider changes in the external environment caused by the pandemic and discuss the future direction of public procurement and the strategic roles of central procurement agencies.

At the Seoul meeting, Korea plans to explain procurement systems aimed at fostering an innovative industrial ecosystem, such as innovative procurement and the excellent product designation system, and then promote the excellence of advanced K-electronic procurement, including the contract performance capability of the {$_Nara Marketplace system and the {$_e-ordering system, to other countries.

In particular, at the Seoul meeting, Korea and Canada plan to sign a memorandum of understanding on public procurement-related cooperation in new growth sectors and electronic procurement system fields to strengthen mutual cooperation.

The Public Procurement Service will also operate a tour of the exhibition hall of the {$_Nara Marketplace Expo (from the 17th to the 19th) during the Seoul meeting period, providing an opportunity for officials from participating countries to directly view excellent domestic small and medium-sized products.

Lim Gi-geun, Administrator of the Public Procurement Service, said, "We will build a consensus among central procurement agencies of each country on the strategic shift of procurement policies and the necessity of enacting public procurement laws as means to create a new industrial ecosystem." He added, "Above all, through the Seoul meeting, the Public Procurement Service will promote the excellence of the K-procurement system and the technological capabilities and competitiveness of innovative companies, supporting Korean companies to expand their footprint in overseas procurement markets in the future."