On her congratulatory speech at the 51st Trade Day ceremony held at Coex on Dec. 5, President Park Geun-hye said that basic industrial infrastructure should be fused with IT under the so-called Manufacturing Reform 3.0 Plan to realize the Creative Economy in the industrial sector. Minister Yoon Sang-jick of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, and Chairman Han Duck-soo of the Korea International Trade Association, were among dignitaries as hosts of the event. A total of some 1,400 corporate leaders, legislators and government officials were present.

 The president said that China’s pursuit of technology has been getting stronger, with Japan reenergizing its industry with a low-valued yen, and the U.S. and Germany, among advanced countries, have been engaged in reforming their industries with the Smart Production System.

Korea’s chief executive said we should strengthen economic reform through the Three-Year Economic Reform Plan by overcoming the challenges to build the second Trade Nation image for Korea.

 “We still have the power that built Korea’s international trade to rank among the 7th largest in the world in only half century and we should change the structure of the nation’s foreign trade so that we can open the second Trade Nation reputation for Korea,” the President said.

 She continued, saying that the reform of the manufacturing industry can only achieve success if business leaders participate in the drive. The government will back voluntary reform moves by manufacturers by removing all the regulations and laws that are in the way of reform moves,and will give support to the development of unmanned vehicles, among the new technologies and products to be developed in fusion with IT.

 Park, at the same time, called on SMEs to be reborn as export-oriented firms. The government targets wants more than 100,000 SMEs to be engaged in exporting goods abroad by 2017, and around 400 SMEs with exports exceeding $100 million annually in the same year. President Park said Korea’s business firms should take advantage of the FTAs that Korea has signed with many of the biggest trading nations in the world, which expanded Korea’s export market. This year, she said FTAs have been concluded with a number of major trading nations including China, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, and the only thing left for Korea to do is for our business firms to take advantage of those FTAs for their exports.

 The president said that a China desk will be established as a one-stop window to handle everything related to exports to China under an overall export strategy even before the FTA with China becomes official early next year. It is a preemptive move, she said. 

 She also said the government will try to have global companies set up advance bases in Korea for their deals with China, in particular, in such  as R&D centers and headquarters. Chairman Han Duck-soo of the Korea International Trade Association -- in his opening speech as the host of the event -- said Korea should develop new products and services through the Creative Economy and expand the participation of more SMEs in Korea’s international trade. He also said we should seek out new marketing strategies to boost exports through such channels as B2C and other online business portals. Further to FTAs between two countries, we should join multiple FTAs such as the TPP, a Pacific-rim companionship agreement, to broaden our economic territory.

 Trade Day was set up in Nov. 30, 1964, with Korea’s two-way trade having reached $100 million. A ceremony has taken place on Dec. 5 every year since then. But with Korea’s international trade exceeding $1 trillion, ranking it the 9th largest trading nation, Dec. 5 was redesigned as the Export Day in 2012.  

A total of 822 business leaders won medals, citations and prizes for their contributions to the growth of the nation’s exports, with three of them winning Gold Tower medals, including Vice Chairman Huh Jin-soo of GS Caltex, President Han Sang-beom of LG Display, and President Cho Soon-tae of Green Cross. 

Among the corporate winners of the Export Tower medals were Samsung Electronics for exporting $75 billion worth of its products, SK Hynix and Hyundai Mobis for exporting more than $10 billion worth of their products and Hanse Trading. Thirteen other companies won citations for exporting more than $1 billion worth of products during the past year.