Sales Diplomacy
The economic mission that joined President Park Keun-hye's visit to the Middle East has achieved abundant results.
KOTRA reported on March 9 that the economic mission made sales talks of US$124.5 million and signed contracts worth US$9.5 million in the Korea-Qatar Business Partnership held in Qatar, which was the last stopover of the visit. The outcome was due to carrying out a total of 96 business talks with 23 Korean companies and 42 Qatari companies in participation.
While visiting Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the U.A.E., and Qatar, 115 Korean companies (the participating companies were 55) won export contracts worth US$55.66 million with 260 buyers in the region via one-to-one sales talks.
In the ICT field, active business talks achieved quick results, such as the export of a video education system of the Wooam Corporation with Saudi Arabia and electronic blackboards and podiums from Aha Inc. with all four Middle East countries.
Furthermore, in the health and medical fields, Leaders Dermatology Clinic, an exemplary Korean dermatology clinics, signed a contract worth US$5 million with Qatar Maganim Fund to open two local hospitals and sell cosmetics products. Healthcare company Digital Nomad signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) about the establishment and joint operation of a health center with The Investors Group in Qatar.
Another achievement is that the cooperation scope with the Middle East has been expanded to the manufacturing and services sectors. The Korea GCC Fund (KGF) and Kuwait Industrial Bank agreed to establish a factory to produce biaxially-oriented polypropylene (BOPP) resin film. BOPP film is used in a wide variety of applications including food packaging and labeling, textiles, tape, and construction materials. The two companies signed an agreement for founding and operating jointly a factory to produce construction materials with Qatar Metal Forming Support Factory. Also, Korean LED specializing company Luminature signed an MOU with Saudi Arabia's Bin Zafrah to provide LED production facilities.