Pohang, Going Global

Pohang City's Enterprise Attraction Team visited Dresden, Germany, home of the Max Planck Society, in February in an effort to promote economic exchange and attract outstanding German companies to Pohang. Pohang City is attempting to attract German companies to the city's Parts & Material Industrial Complex in order for them to set up Korean branches and thus enhance Pohang's technology investment and R&D sectors so that the city will become the center of the parts and material industry in Northeast Asia.

On February 24, Pohang City signed an MOU with the German company “W,” with Park Seung-ho, the mayor of Pohang and the head of the Enterprise Attraction Team, the president of the German company and Choi, President of the Korean company in partnership with “W” in attendance. The MOU is to establish a next generation engine plant at the Parts & Material Industrial Complex in Pohang. Pohang announced that it will not reveal any specific information about the Project, including any detailed contents of the MOU, the name of the companies involved or information on the product to be manufactured at the plant until they sign an MOA sometime in March or April. This is the second MOU for Pohang to attract a foreign company to the “Parts & Material Industrial Complex” since an MOU was signed with RHS of Australia in January. Pohang has been mainly focusing on attracting Japanese companies in the past, but with this latest deal the city has discovered a new possibility. The majority of Japanese companies are quite conservative, too concerned about their technology being leaked when working with foreign companies. However, European companies are more open and interested in selling and capitalizing on their technologies. Therefore, signing an MOU with a German company has opened the door for Pohang to seek a new strategy when attempting to attract foreign companies to the city. In fact, “W” has plans to build its own plant in Pohang, so that the plant will act as the Asian hub for its 47 trading partner nations in Asia.

Park met with Dirk Hilbert, vice mayor of Dresden and agreed to actively start exchanges on four sectors; culture, science, public services and industrial complexes. “We actually agreed upon the same matters last April when Mr. Hilbert visited Pohang, but there have not been any activities so far between the two cities. We need to come up with specific, detailed plans so that we can be actually beneficial to each other as we originally intended,” said Park. Hilbert responded that both Pohang and Dresden are high-tech cities with abundant resources that represent each nation, and that therefore both cities' local governments should seek ways to best maximize what they have.

The team also visited the Max Planck Society while in Dresden, and was reassured that the Max Planck Society will establish its Korea branch in Pohang as originally planned. “I am aware that there are rumors about where our branch will be located. Our original decision to establish it in Pohang has not changed, and our board of directors still believes that Pohang is the perfect location for the Max Planck Society Korea,” said the head of the Max Planck Society.

The Enterprise Attraction Team has discovered many beneficial aspects to attract European companies to Pohang through this trip to Dresden. With the addition of good strategies, there are many new opportunities lying ahead for Pohang to attract foreign companies in good standing.