Gyeonggi Province, having increased its investment attraction target from US $2.25 to US $2.4 billion since last year, has initiated active efforts to attract foreign investment.

The provincial government announced that it will sign investment MOUs involving about USD 39 million from two companies based in Tokyo and Nagaoka in Japan on January 16-17.

Delegates from the province will head to Tokyo first to sign an MOU worth US$ 29 million with company ‘D’, a globally-renowned automotive parts manufacturer that will supply major parts to Hyundia-KIA group, and have a meeting with JEITA (Japan Electronics and Information Technology Industries Association) to discuss their investment plans in detail.

The delegates will then move to Nagaoka for another MOU worth US$ 10 million with company ‘N’, whose high-performance ceramic board-based absorption technology has been gaining attention recently. A third visit to company ‘H’, whose incinerator is expected to become one of the major replacements for nuclear power plants, is also scheduled to review the necessity of the technology.

The province has explained that extended efforts to attract top Japanese technology companies should be made for the smooth supply of parts and materials, as those companies are dominant in the markets.

Yeo Jae-hong, manager of the Investment Promotion Division, said, “The highlight of this year will be the attraction of advanced materials companies in Japan armed with proprietary technologies needed by Korean companies. We will not worry about the scale of investment, but will make concerted efforts to attract hidden champions armed with technological advantages, regardless of whether the company is small or not.”

In 2013, the provincial government reorganized its investment attraction teams, which used to be divided per industry under a region-based system, and employed specific investment attraction strategies such as on-site briefing sessions and the dispatch of investment attraction delegations and working groups, and managed to secure investment of US$ 2.25 billion from 18 foreign companies.

The goals for this year include attracting US$ 2.4 billion in investment from around 21 foreign companies and directly creating 11,500 jobs. To that end, the government will implement detailed strategies aimed at attracting region-specific investment, increasing investment from existing foreign-invested companies in Korea, and attracting secondary and tertiary part suppliers. Starting with the dispatch of delegates to Japan with the mission of attracting advanced materials and parts manufacturers, the province will send three more delegations to China (February), America (March) and Europe (April).