Governor Kim kick-starts ‘Korea sales’ during a visit to US.
(Published April 18, 2013)

[Gyeonggi Province investment promotion delegation ①] Visits Washington State Governor and requests active investment

Governor Kim stressed, “Korea is an attractive market which is reliable for investment.”
KNR of Gyeonggi Province signs a USD 5 million investment agreement with Nano Facture of US.

◇ Gyeonggi Province Governor Kim Moon-soo has a meeting with Washington State Governor Jay Inslee at the state government building on April 17 (local time) during his visit to US. ⓒ G-News

Gyeonggi Province Governor Kim Moon-soo who leads the US investment promotion delegation of Gyeonggi Province had a meeting with Washington State Governor Jay Inslee and participated in the contract signing ceremony of USD 5 million investment agreement between the company in Gyeonggi Province and a US company as his first schedule.

A group of investment promotion delegates, who visited the Washington state government building, located in Olympia City of Washington in the afternoon of April 17 (local time), paid a courtesy visit to Washington State Governor Jay Inslee and discussed investment of companies of Washington State to Gyeonggi Province and cooperative measures between the two regions.

In particular, Governor Kim stressed Korea is an attractive market which is reliable for investment, targeted at US governments, public, and companies who feel insecure due to the recent provocative threats by North Korea.

Arriving at the Washington state government building, where flags were flown at half mast to commemorate the victims from the recent Boston bombing, Governor Kim expressed his condolences on the victims to Washington state officials and stated terrorism against innocent civilians should be punished.

In the beginning of the meeting, when Governor Inslee asked of security state of the Korean peninsula, Governor Kim answered, “Although North Korea poses provocative threats, reaction posture of Korea and US is unwavering. In particular, it was effective when we warned North Korean with high-tech military forces such as B-2 sent by US.” He stated, “We expect more US companies invest in Korea as Korea is an attractive market which is reliable for investment.”

Following the response, Governor Inslee considered Korea-US FTA as a win-win practice for both countries and hoped more Washington products such as airplane and wine are exported to Korea, saying “US and the Pacific regions have a strong tie with Korea, and there are many companies entering Korea.”

◇ Gyeonggi Province Governor Kim Moon-soo, Washington State Governor Jay Inslee, KNR CEO Kim Myung-hoon (second from the left), and Nano Facture CEO Lee Kyung-hoon (third from the left) taking a commemorative photograph at Washington State government building after ‘KNR-Nano Facture’ contract signing ceremony. ⓒ G-News

Following the meeting, Gyeonggi company KNR and US company Nano Facture had a contract signing ceremony at the event hall prepared in the government building. Through this agreement regarding consistent mutual cooperation and investment for development and commercialization of DNA restoration system, KNR will attract USD 5 million from Nano Facture.

Through the investment agreement, KNR, Nano Facture and Washington State University are expected to strengthen their cooperation, significantly advancing DNA extraction technology which can be used for the development of new medicines and criminal investigation.

Nano Facture is a C4C(Center for Commercialization) company of Washington State University, which Washington State University supports for joint R&D and manages its property rights of the relevant technologies. This company will invest USD 5 million in KNR located in Yongin City for product development and improvement of manufacturing facilities by 2016.

KNR, which won the investment this time, is a promising small company in the industrial test equipment manufacturing sector which has been growing rapidly by cooperation with Gyeonggi Province in that it concluded the equipment agreement with Link Engineering Co. of US on April 2011 through Gyeonggi UT Program (Texas State University Technology Cooperation Program).

Gyeonggi Provincial Economy Investment Director Jeon Seong-tae stated, “To support the promising small companies through overseas technology cooperation is as important as to draw investment in large scale.” He added, “In addition to UT Program, we will actively promote the environment for technology cooperation between companies.”

After the contract signing ceremony, a group of the investment promotion delegates paid respects to the Korean War Veterans Memorial near the government building, and shared the recent state of the Korean peninsula and the importance of Korea-US alliance with the war veterans of Korean War who came to meet the group. The number of those killed in Korean War is 580, the highest in the west region of US.

◇ Governor Kim and Gyeonggi investment promotion delegation pay respects to the Korean War Veterans Memorial, located near the Washington State government building. ⓒ G-News

ⓒ G-News | Nam Kyung-woo echo2008f@gg.go.kr

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