Gyeonggi Province Export SMEs Show 94% Satisfaction with 'Gyeonggi FTA Center Support Program'

[Suwon Ilbo=Reporter Kim Gap-dong] Gyeonggi Province and the Gyeonggi Region FTA Trade Promotion Center (Center Director Kang Kyung-sik, hereinafter Gyeonggi FTA Center) conducted a satisfaction survey on participants in the support program for the first half of this year, revealing that approximately 94% of respondents expressed satisfaction.

The survey targeted 1,302 respondents from 1,034 companies among 2,110 participants in the first half support program this year, with approximately 94% (1,223 people) of respondents responding with 'satisfied' or higher to the Gyeonggi FTA Center support program.

In particular, for company visit one-on-one FTA consulting, FTA underutilization consulting, and GVC (Global Value Chain) response support programs, all respondents expressed satisfaction or higher. Newly launched trade support programs such as overseas market marketing specialized training (97%) and non-tariff barrier response (overseas certification) support (94%) also showed significantly high satisfaction. The province explained that the development of diverse new trade support programs and company-customized support programs have driven high response from participating companies in improving FTA and trade utilization.

Demand was found to be high for company visit one-on-one FTA comprehensive consulting and FTA overseas market entry strategy briefings as desired future programs. Regarding the question of whether increased export volume has strong correlation with FTA utilization, 29.2% answered positively, a significant improvement of 16 percentage points compared to 12.8% from the previous year.

Regarding difficulties arising from import and export transactions, responses showed △need for buyer matching support during overseas marketing (14%) △non-tariff barriers such as overseas certification (13%) △lack of information provision channels (12%).

In response, the province plans to strengthen marketing support programs to help the Gyeonggi FTA Center and companies effectively find overseas buyers alongside the launch of the International Cooperation Division, and to expand channels providing information and support related to non-tariff barriers and FTA, making it easier for companies to obtain necessary information.

Moon Du-sik, director of the International Trade Division of Gyeonggi Province, stated, "The uncertainty of the global economy due to war, climate change, and digital economic transformation is acting as a crisis for domestic small and medium-sized enterprises looking to export as a breakthrough," and added, "Together with the Gyeonggi FTA Center, we will conduct in-depth investigations into the difficulties of export companies and actively respond to trade-related issues while actively supporting Gyeonggi Province's export companies."

Meanwhile, the Gyeonggi FTA Center conducts not only one-on-one company-customized FTA consulting but also diverse and specialized education and related support programs for SMEs in the province, including carbon border tax (including ESG) response, non-tariff barrier (overseas certification) response, global value chain (GVC), online (overseas) platform support, and overseas market marketing specialized training. Companies seeking various customized consulting support and training can apply through the Gyeonggi FTA Center website (www.ggfta.or.kr). For more information, contact the Gyeonggi FTA Center at its main phone number (1688-4684).