Ministry of SMEs and Startups Drives Key Policies Through Teamwork with Public Institutions

Held Policy Council Meeting with 11 Public Institutions
Minister Oh Young-joo Presided Personally

On the 26th, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups held a policy council meeting at the Seoul branch of the Korea Technology Finance Corporation with heads of 11 public institutions to review the progress of government measures and share innovations, current issues, and challenges of each institution.

This is the first time in four months since the "Policy Won Team Discussion" in February that Minister Oh Young-joo has met directly with all heads of public institutions under the Ministry of SMEs and Startups. At this council meeting, they first reviewed the policy implementation status of each public institution during the first half of the year and discussed efforts for institutional innovation such as improving institutional regulations and managing subsidies.

In particular, they focused on discussing policy fund trends to improve the financial conditions and sales expansion of SMEs and small business owners, trends in promoting the sales of Onnuri gift certificates, and support for special guarantees by regional credit guarantee foundations. They then checked detailed implementation tasks of each public institution regarding the 'SME Leap Strategy' and the 'Support Measures for Globalization of SMEs and Startups' announced by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups in April and May, and discussed collaboration and communication plans to achieve policy outcomes.

Each public institution centered their discussions on urgent policy implementation tasks such as joint proactive restructuring by private financial sectors for companies facing temporary financial crises, building infrastructure to support responses to global carbon regulations, revitalizing M&A platforms between large and small enterprises and among SMEs, and attracting overseas investment for global startups.

At the session sharing current issues and challenges of public institutions that followed, considering concerns such as rising raw material prices due to exchange rate increases and slowing household consumption, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups identified policies and current tasks to focus on going forward. Minister Oh emphasized, “In the recent difficult business environment, the role of public institutions at the forefront of policy execution is crucial to quickly normalize SMEs and small business owners,” and added, “To implement policies that can be felt on the ground, not only collaboration and communication but also internal innovation efforts such as improving work methods are necessary.”