Making Land
A joint system was built among the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA), Korea Agency for Saemangeum Development and Investment (KASD), the Federation of Korean Industries (FKI), Korea Federation of Small and Medium Business (KFSM), Industrial Bank, and Jeollabuk-do, for the smooth construction of the so-called “Saemanguem China Valley,” which is Korea’s first inter-state special economic zone.
The six organizations above signed a pact to support the Korea-China economic zone at KOTRA Headquarters in Seoul on April 4.
Under the pact, KOTRA will be in charge of finding and luring overseas investors, FKI and KFSM will be responsible for attracting domestic companies, and the Industrial Bank will play a role of a consultant on finance and investment.
KASD will handle the general operation while Jeollabuk-do will support administration and finance as the municipality in charge.
To go ahead with the Saemanguem project, KASD and KOTRA will hold a Korea-China investment cooperation forum in June, and both governments will sign a Memorandum Of Understanding (MOU).
Both countries agreed to jointly proceed with building Saemanguem China Valley in December 2013 at the Economic Ministerial Meeting. The project is to develop a 25.8 km2 complex city that combines industry, education, R&D, residence, and commerce.
KASD is to attract state-of-the-art and future growth industries to the valley, such as new generation energy and high value-added agricultural life industries. It is to complete its first phase of site construction by 2020, and then to spearhead the second phase.