As foreign investment into Korea shows a continuous decrease for the last several years, which will eventually affect to the economical development of Gyeonggi directly or indirectly, the Gyeonggi province held an Urgent Strategic Meeting for Activation of Foreign Investment before discussing on the Biz Plan for the New Year on Jan. 4.

Various agendas were discussed in this Urgent Strategic Meeting for Activation of Foreign Investment, which provincial governor Kim personally presided over and participated with 16 members including the Vice governor of the Administration & Business Policy Dept., Advisory Ambassador for International Relations, Head of Planning & Management, Head of Economic Investment Management, Director of City Housing Dept., Aide for the Economic Policy, Advisor for Investment Inducement and other members.

Target of Foreign Investment for 2007
Upon the target of US$1 billion, which is to be achieved until the end of 2007 with currently progressing projects amounting US$705 million with 16 companies, local province will enlarge the investment market by adding various businesses into the current investment market such as energy, hotel, bio, medication, digital culture contents and etc. There are also a certain number of negotiations currently undergoing which will be supported by the Gyeonggi province to be concluded with a successful terms and condition. Local province will also implement an in-depth study on each industrial peculiarity so to find any potential industries that were hidden.

Strategy for Investment Activation in 2007
Tailored Investment Inducement Conference – Apart from the extensive sized investment inducement conference, local will open a ‘Focused Investment Inducement Conference’ with a small group known as the potential investors of Gyeonggi. Small sized but more focused on each specific industry which is for instance targeted on the oil dollars from the Middle East, capital of Chinese emigrants and etc. are slated to be held.

Marketing Plan for Investment Inducement – Information and advises of KOTRA, IK, Overseas Trade Dept., private investment advisory unit and etc. will be sought by the local government to grab any prospect investors. Also, local is expecting to see more investors into the region leaded by the private unit by introducing a reward system.

Use of Internal & External Network – Cooperative investment-inducing activities will be implemented with the Investment Bank, which has a great international network, or with the private consulting firms. By forming a close mutual assistance system with the executives of the company, the local government will also provide an aggressive support to the companies and enterprises that are planning to attract foreign investment. Supplier companies without manufacturing facilities will be considered as the very first company to induce foreign investment. And also 100 companies of each region and industry will be selected upon their sales result and will be encouraged to promote foreign investment.

Additional Investment Inducement – Fine management system for project progress and difficulty settlement will lead to have an additional investment from the already-entered investors. Also to provide better environmental support to investors, local will establish DB system by the upper half of this year.

Improvement in the Investment Environment – To remove any inconveniences for the employees commuting to foreign investment complexes, the local government has extended public transportation routes to Poseung Industrial Complex of Pyeongtaek from Seoul as of Jan. 2007. On-line service, which provides expert advises such as legal assistance from law firms, accounting advices from accounting firms and etc. will also be arranged.

Difficulty in Securing the Location – With a rapid increase of land price in the metropolitan areas and release of strict regulation on land use, it is very difficult to find a good location for foreign investment companies to reside. Whereas provision of a good location is the key factor considered by the investors in making a decision, Gyeonggi is slated to start searching for a good location for investment.

Strong Capability in Investment Inducement –To strengthen the capability of its team in inducing investment, the Gyeonggi province formed a special Task Force Team by adding investment inducement experts who are on a contract base with the province. Also to improve the professionalism of the provincial employees, local government will open Special Lecture Courses, English Teaching Classes, Entrusted Training Classes with Postgraduate School and etc. ‘Recruit Contest for the Public Investment Promotion Expert’ will also be implemented to find capable and competent work forces.