Governor Nam Kyung-pil: "We Will Build Gyeonggi Province's Future Together with Europe"

Gyeonggi Province signed an investment attraction MOU with 'Kiekert,' a hidden champion in the German automotive parts industry, and laid the foundation for friendship and cooperation with the Ile-de-France region of France.

At 11:20 a.m. local time on the 16th, at the Novotel Hotel in Aachen, Germany, the province signed a three-party joint venture investment attraction MOU, attended by Gyeonggi Governor Nam Kyung-pil, Kiekert Vice President Guido Hanel, and Lee Young-ho, head of Kwangjin Sangkong's Poland corporation.

Together with Kwangjin Sangkong, Kiekert plans to invest 24 million dollars (7.5 million dollars in FDI), including the construction of KKL (Kwangjin-Kiekert-Limited), a production facility of about 9,900 square meters, in the Jangan 2 Foreign Investment Zone in Hwaseong.

The province expects that this agreement will bring an import substitution effect of about 340 billion won worth of automotive door parts over the next five years. In addition, since 203 new employees are set to be hired by 2018, it is expected to contribute to job creation as well.

At the signing ceremony that day, Governor Nam said, "I have a deep interest in the fact that two companies with outstanding technological capabilities have come together to create a new company and generate such sales and employment," adding, "Since this is the result of long-term dialogue and cooperation, we will work to achieve even greater outcomes."

Vice President Guido Hanel responded, "Today's agreement is the first step toward even greater achievements in the future. We are grateful that Gyeonggi Province has provided support to make such an agreement possible, and we will strive to make the KKL that will be established in the province a hub of technology and the economy."

Headquartered in Heiligenhaus near Düsseldorf, Kiekert is the world's number one automotive door lock company with about 6,000 employees, a German hidden champion boasting a 159-year tradition. The first in the world to develop an electric-drive lock system, Kiekert currently supplies parts to major global carmakers such as BMW, Ford, and Daimler. Its 2015 sales were about 1.0725 trillion won.

Following the Kiekert investment attraction, Governor Nam met with Regional President Valerie Pecresse at the Ile-de-France Regional Government Building at 6 p.m. that day and signed the 'Gyeonggi Province-Ile-de-France Economic Friendship and Cooperation MOU.'

Governor Nam had proposed an inter-regional exchange and cooperation plan to Regional President Pecresse when she visited Gyeonggi Province last July, and this outcome was reached just four months after the proposal.

Governor Nam expressed his thoughts, saying, "Gyeonggi Province and Ile-de-France have a responsibility to develop the industries of both countries. Through this MOU, we will pursue the best possible cooperation."

Regional President Pecresse replied, "Gyeonggi Province is a place that shares innovation, which is a characteristic of France, and I am pleased to establish friendship and cooperation. I hope that the province and Ile-de-France will achieve results in cooperation and innovation going forward."

Under this agreement, the province and Ile-de-France plan to expand exchanges across all fields, including ▲business ▲industry-academia-research R&D; ▲startup networks ▲job creation ▲culture and tourism.

With a population of about 12 million, Ile-de-France is the most populous of France's 18 regions and is an economic hub of Europe, recording a gross regional domestic product (GRDP) of 721.4 billion dollars, 2.2 times that of Gyeonggi Province.