Yongin City to Establish 'Yongin Pavilion' on 'Alibaba.com' to Support SME Exports

Establishment of the '2025 Export Support Project Comprehensive Plan'
Diversification to Global South Markets Centered on the US and EU

Yongin City in Gyeonggi Province is establishing a 'Yongin Pavilion' on 'Alibaba.com' to expand exports of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) within the city.

On the 7th, Yongin City announced that it has formulated the '2025 Comprehensive Export Support Plan' to strengthen the global competitiveness of local SMEs and maximize exports.

Yongin City is strengthening export support for small and medium-sized enterprises in the area by establishing the 'Yongin Pavilion' on Alibaba.com, the world's largest B2B platform. In February last year, Mayor Lee Sang-il of Yongin City, who participated in 'MWC 2024' held in Barcelona, Spain, pledged successful overseas market expansion with the local participating companies. Photo by Yongin City

The city explained, "We focused on reorganizing export support projects centered on high-demand and effective initiatives to help local SMEs become key players in the global competitive era by supporting their entry into world markets."

In the comprehensive plan, the city presented three main strategies: ▲ Establishing a digital trade support system ▲ Revitalizing exports through industry-academia-government-civil collaboration ▲ Strengthening strategic overseas marketing.

To build the digital trade support system, the city, together with the Yongin Industry Promotion Agency and KOTRA, will provide ongoing support for digital marketing, online trade consultations, and trade workforce training through the Digital Trade Comprehensive Support Center (deXter), which opened last year. Notably, Yongin City will be the first local government to establish a Yongin Pavilion on 'Alibaba.com,' the world's largest B2B intermediary trade platform, this year to help local exporting SMEs and small business owners list their products.

Export support linking industry, government, academia, and civil sectors will also be strengthened. The city will expand the 'University Student Export Intern' program, which dispatches university students trained in trade practices to SME-participated exhibitions, and the 'Export Mentoring Support Project,' where export advisory committee members provide consulting to companies facing export difficulties. Additionally, the city plans to operate the 'Datonghae Supporters,' who assist with interpretation and translation by utilizing foreign students and multicultural personnel in the area.

In the first half of the year, an event will be held at the 'Small Business and Startup Hub' located in Yeongdeok-dong, Giheung-gu, inviting representatives of excellent local export companies to share know-how on overseas expansion and facilitate networking between export-related organizations and local companies. Alongside this, the city will host the 'Y-Trade Export Consultation Meeting,' inviting overseas buyers to connect with local SMEs for export consultations.

To diversify export markets for local SMEs, the city plans to expand existing export support projects, which have focused on the European Union (EU) and the United States, to global South markets such as ASEAN, Africa, Latin America, and Central Asia.

The overseas market development team will be dispatched twice, in June and September, consisting of 16 companies, to the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries such as Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, as well as Southeast Asian regions including Thailand and Malaysia.

This year, the city will also support participation in overseas exhibitions leveraging the Korean Wave (Hallyu). In March, it will assist 10 local SMEs to participate in the 'Osaka Korean Product Exhibition (K-Product Premium Consumer Goods Exhibition)' held in Osaka, Japan.

Meanwhile, despite global economic uncertainties last year, companies in the Yongin area achieved export results of $15.7 billion, a 44% increase compared to the previous year ($10.9 billion). The city analyzed that the main factor was the recovery in exports of semiconductors and machinery items. Last year, the number of export companies in the Yongin area totaled 2,449, a 3.4% increase from the previous year. Electronics and electrical products accounted for 77.9% of exports.

A city official said, "This year, with the second term of the Trump administration's trade policies, we expect even more challenging domestic and international conditions. We will prepare customized support measures to respond to changes in the global trade environment and accelerate the discovery of alternative markets to reduce dependence on specific countries."