Gyeonggi Province to Invest 13.5 Billion Won in Online and Offline Export Support Programs for Approximately 12,800 Companies This Year

[Suwon Ilbo=Reporter Park No-hun] Gyeonggi Province announced on the 1st that it plans to invest approximately 13.5 billion won this year to implement diverse online and offline export support programs targeting approximately 12,800 small and medium-sized export companies in the province to overcome COVID-19.

This year, the province plans to actively respond to the changing export environment through expanded non-face-to-face service support and to swiftly resolve export difficulties by providing close support through 19 projects across three phased stages: ①export infrastructure development, ②overseas market exploration support, and ③comprehensive support for promising export companies.

The first stage is 'export infrastructure development' for the growth of domestic companies into export enterprises, implementing six projects including export insurance premium support for Gyeonggi Peace Export, corporate trouble SOS support, FTA utilization support projects, and mentor support for beginner companies, providing support to a total of 8,533 companies.

First, the 'Gyeonggi Peace Export Insurance Premium Support' project will support 2,250 companies to reduce export risk burden.

Additionally, the 'FTA Utilization Support' project will support 4,970 companies to secure price competitiveness of export products through FTA tariffs, and the 'Export Beginner Company Mentor Support' project will support 100 companies by assigning mentors with abundant trade experience to provide comprehensive export operation consulting.

The second stage is 'overseas market exploration' that strengthens export competitiveness through online and offline distribution networks, implementing 11 projects including the Gyeonggi Business Center (GBC) marketing agency project, online video consultation meetings, and individual and group pavilion support for overseas exhibitions, providing support to 4,214 companies.

First, for companies that find it difficult to independently advance into overseas markets due to COVID-19 and other factors, the province plans to actively support marketing agencies, video consultations, and overseas exhibition participation for 440 companies using the Gyeonggi Business Centers (GBC) operating at 14 overseas locations.

Additionally, the province plans to hold 30 online export video consultation meetings such as overseas G-FAIR and trade promotion groups targeting China, the United States, India, the Middle East, Japan, and Europe, supporting a total of 3,370 companies, an increase of 1,768 companies compared to last year.

To strengthen non-face-to-face marketing, the province will implement the 'Online Overseas Marketing Support Project' targeting 300 companies with a focus on business-to-consumer (B2C) transactions, supporting global online platform entry such as Amazon and social media (SNS) marketing.

In particular, to promote the excellence of K-quarantine measures, which has gained attention amid the global spread of COVID-19, the province plans to implement the 'K-Medical and Bio Export Consultation Session' as a new project this year to support overseas expansion of healthcare-related small and medium-sized enterprises.

The third stage is 'comprehensive support for promising export companies,' implementing the 'Global Hit Product Creation Support Project' to foster Gyeonggi's representative export strong companies, providing one-on-one customized consulting for 52 promising companies covering all processes from export preparation to overseas expansion. Additionally, information and integrated export management will be provided through the 'Integrated Export Support Project Management System.'

Ryu Gwang-yeol, Director of the Economic Affairs Bureau, stated, "Despite the COVID-19 crisis last year, we were able to achieve positive growth through a swift transition to a non-face-to-face and online export support system," and added, "This year as well, we will cooperate with related organizations to implement high-quality export support policies including non-face-to-face services and do our best to help small and medium-sized enterprises explore overseas markets."

Last year, despite the difficult circumstances caused by COVID-19, the province recorded total exports of 115.4 billion dollars, surpassing the 100 billion dollar mark for the fourth consecutive year, and small and medium-sized enterprise exports recorded 31.9 billion dollars, an increase of 0.4 percent compared to the previous year.