Yu Jeoung-yeol, new president of KOTRA. (Photos: KOTRA)

“Going non-face-to-face is now an unstoppable global trend,” said Yu Jeoung-yeol, new president of KOTRA on May 20. “We will focus on digital transformation by making the most of our enterprise-wide capabilities.

By doing so, we will contribute Corporate Korea to post US$700 billion in exports and secure 120,000 export companies early,” Yu said. Yu began his official schedule by attending his inauguration ceremony at KOTRA Headquarters in Seocho-gu, Seoul.

“We are now going through a pandemic that has shaken people’s lifestyles and companies’ business environments with COVID-19,” Yu said in his inaugural address.

“We have a mission of the times to turn current global business trends into an opportunity factor, not a threat to Korean companies.”

Yu suggested that the digital conversion of export support systems should be an active response to the reorganization of the Global Value Chain (GVC) and preparations for global carbon neutrality and the digital era and preemptive responses to new trade policies.

Yu also emphasized communication with customers and cooperation with related public organizations.

“In the future, we will play a leading role in establishing a close cooperative system with related public institutions and securing diverse communication channels with companies,” Yu said.

“The people and society demand employees of public institutions have professional ethics and integrity,” Yu added. “I ask KOTRA employees to do their best to make KOTRA a clean and trusted public institution.”

Yu earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in aerospace engineering from Seoul National University and a master’s degree in public administration from Harvard University.

He played important roles in the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, the Korean Embassy in Japan, the Defense Acquisition Program Administration, and the Presidential Secretariat, among others.

Yu Jeoung-yeol, new president of KOTRA, delivers his inaugural address in the inauguration ceremony held at KOTRA Headquarters in Seoul on May 20.

On the other hand, KOTRA and the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs announced on May 10 that they helped Korean companies sign a contract to build vertical farms to grow crops hydroponically with Kuwaiti buyers by giving support to the Smart Farm Consortium.

Kuwait depends on agricultural imports as it uses only about 10,000 hectares, or 0.6 percent of the country’s land. Its land also contains less organic matter and water. The country lacks natural water resources for irrigation.

KOTRA has formed the Smart Farm Consortium, consisting of Korean companies by discovering Kuwait companies’ demand to overcome poor agricultural conditions in Kuwait by utilizing smart farm technology.

In the past year, KOTRA and the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs strongly supported Korean companies, such as the establishment of strategies for winning project orders, arranging video consultations between Korean companies and ordering companies and consulting on preparing proposals so that they will be able to win orders for local projects.

As a result, the Smart Farm Consortium will build vertical farms, whose total size will be 700 square meters, by December. Starting in March next year, crops, mainly leafy vegetables, will be cultivated at the vertical farms and sold in Kuwait.

“We could sign the contract thanks to support from KOTRA and the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs amid tough business environments set off by COVID-19,” said an official of a company which participated in the consortium. “We will expand our overseas market with the excellence of K-Farm which combines world-class Korean information and communication technology with agriculture.”

In the meantime, KOTRA announced on April 13 that it selected the third group of startups for Global Jump 300 a global startup development project, and held a launching ceremony for the group.

Startups in the Global Jump 300 will be able to meet foreign partners such as buyers, overseas investors, and global companies from up to three KOTRA overseas trade centers until the end of this year. They will also be able to take part in customized seminars and business meetings for Global Jump members.

All 50 companies selected for the Global Jump 300 are high-tech startups. Forty percent of them are companies focusing on Artificial Intelligence (AI), the Internet of Things (IoT) and Big Data.

They are followed by startups in healthcare (20 percent), mobility (16 percent), fintech and security (14 percent) and ICT-based consumer goods (10 percent).