Governor Kim catches ‘Two Birds in One Go’ in Europe
(Published February 27, 2012)

–Governor Kim attracts USD 230 million in investments, successfully benchmarks German reunification strategies
-[The Tale of the Provincial Delegation to Europe (9)]  From Turkey to Germany to the UK

◇ Governor Kim Moon-soo, on a trip to Europe from February 19 to 25, signed the Gyeonggi-Schaeffler Investment MOU at the headquarters of Schaeffler AG on February 22, local time, with Dr. Jürgen M. Geißinger (President and CEO), for the company’s investment of USD 100 million in Gyeonggi Province. The two men pose for a photograph. ⓒ G-News Plus

The trip has inscribed ‘Gyeonggi’ at the heart of Europe.

Governor Kim returned from his seven-day trip to Turkey, Germany and Great Britain, undertaken for the purpose of attracting foreign investment and enhancing the exchange of information and cooperation between Gyeonggi Province and its counterparts overseas, on February 15. All in all, it was a successful economic and diplomatic mission.

Governor Kim signed two memorandums of understanding with two foreign companies, worth a combined total of USD 236 million (and 1,320 new jobs), during this trip to Istanbul (Turkey), Munich and Berlin (Germany) and London (UK). In addition, he engaged in in-depth talks about the possibility of reunification on the Korean peninsula.

The governor signed an MOU with Schaeffler AG, an automotive component manufacturer, in Munich on February 21, local time, for an investment of USD 100 million in Gyeonggi Province.

Schaeffler plans to start production at its new manufacturing plant, which it will start building next month on a 34,060㎡ site in the Jangan Industrial Complex II of Hwaseong City, in February 2014.

Gyeonggi Province expects a total of 620 people to be hired by the plant by 2018.

In addition, the province anticipates that an import substitution effect worth some KRW 200 billion will be achieved over the next five years as currently imported automotive components will soon be procured domestically.

On February 24, Governor Kim signed an MOU worth USD 136 million with TESCO PLC, the largest retail company in the UK.

TESCO PLC plans to start construction of its logistics facilities in the Wongok Logistics Complex of Anseong City on a 146,000m² site in October 2012, and will begin using the facility in December 2013.

As TESCO PLC has already constructed a logistics facility of 102,000m², the company will have a vast logistics facility covering a total of 248,000m² by December of next year.

In terms of job creation, more than 700 people will be hired additionally on an annual basis. The province is planning to make the Anseong Wongok Logistics Complex a ‘mecca’ for domestic retail business logistics.

◇ Governor Kim gave a key-note speech at the Reunification Forum of Gyeonggi Province and German Experts’ co-hosted by the German-Korean Association and the Hanns Seidel Foundation at Berlin’s Federal Foundation for Reconciliation of the SED Dictatorship on February 23, local time. ⓒ G-News Plus

Governor Kim also made significant progress in the area of information exchange and cooperation.

On February 20, the first day of his mission, Governor Kim visited Istanbul Province, Turkey, a ‘brother country’ of Korea. He signed the Gyeonggi-Istanbul Memorandum of Understanding on Friendship and Cooperation, and visited the Korean War Veterans Association, exchanging warm embraces with veterans who risked their lives for Korea during the war.

Governor Kim presented invitations to three offspring of the veterans as part of the province’s efforts to help the descendants of Turkey’s Korean War veterans.

Each year, the province will invite a number of descendants of Turkey’s Korean War veterans to Gyeonggi Province for a week, taking them on a tour of major facilities in the province and offering them short-term training at the English Village and the Youth Training Center.

In Germany, the governor’s efforts to benchmark German experiences with regard to the reunification of the Korean peninsula were noteworthy. The governor toured Mödlareuth, which was divided between West and East Germany. He signed an MOU on information exchange and cooperation with the German Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (Bundesamt für Naturschutz, BfN), which is charged with preserving and managing the ‘green zone (Grünes Band)’, Germany’s equivalent of Korea’s demilitarized zone (DMZ).

Gyeonggi Province will work together with BfN to prepare systematic measures for preserving and utilizing the DMZ in Korea through mutual visits to the respective green zones and joint biennial workshops among other initiatives.

Governor Kim talked about the possibility of reunification of the Korean peninsula and stressed the need for international cooperation to improve the human rights situation in North Korea in his interview with a weekly in Germany and at the Reunification Forum of Gyeonggi Province and German Experts held in Berlin. He continued in a similar vein in the speeches he made in Britain.

The governor urged EU member countries including Great Britain and Germany to take greater interest in the issue of improving human rights in North Korea during his speech at Chatham House, a global think tank. He said, “North Korea will change significantly if it follows the general direction taken by Chinese in terms of reform and opening.”

◇ Governor Kim during an interview with ‘Focus’ a weekly magazine based in Munich, Germany on February 21. ⓒ G-News Plus

ⓒ G-News Plus / Nam Gyeong-woo / namgw2011@gmail.com

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