By Lee Kap-soo

The 27th Korea-Latin America Business Forum was held at COEX in Samseong-dong, Seoul, in collaboration with the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, the Korean Council on Latin America & Caribbean, the Korea Institute for Foreign Economic Policy, and the Overseas Construction Association.

The event was attended by Han Byung-kil, chairman of the Korean Council on Latin America & Caribbean, Park Duk-ryul, director general for cross-border investment policy of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, Kim Ko-hyun, executive vice president of KITA, and Amb. Athanasio Kosmas Sifaki of Panama to Korea.

Delivering an opening speech, Han Byung-kil, chairman of the Korean Council on Latin America & Caribbean, said, "Latin America is an important partner in the global supply chain of Korea's high-tech industries due to its rich reserves of oil, lithium, copper, and nickel.

“In particular, Korean companies need to advance into Latin American countries in the fields of construction, plant and natural resources.” 

In his welcoming remarks, Kim Ko-hyun, executive vice president of KITA, said, "Recently, the startup ecosystem has been growing rapidly through various policies to support startup development in Latin American countries. As we look forward to the expansion of Korean startups into the Latin American market, the KTA will actively support companies' entry into the Latin American market by holding informative seminars and providing networking opportunities with high-level officials."

In his congratulatory remarks, Athanasio Kosmas Sifaki of Panama to Korea, who is also head of GRULAC (Group of Latin America and the Caribbean), said, "Korea and Panama are important strategic partners for each other as they share the commonality of being logistics and commercial hubs in Asia and Latin America." 

He added, "Latin American countries are eager to attract investment from Korea and transfer knowledge and experience in digital and technological innovation. This is expected to promote food security and effective response to climate change issues in Latin America, as well as the development of high-tech industries such as semiconductors and healthcare.”

At the forum, presentations were made on ▲ economic cooperation opportunities with Latin America, ▲ ways and cases of small and medium-sized enterprises entering Latin America, and ▲ Korea-Latin America cooperation in the construction, plant, and resource sectors. 

Businesses attending the seminar had one-on-one consultations with experts from the Korea International Trade Association's FTA Support Center on utilizing the FTA, intellectual property rights, and overseas certification.