[Sejong=Edaily, Reporter Kim Mi-young] On the 5th, Prime Minister Han Duck-soo stated, “The government will be a strong support for our traders so that they can spread their wings freely in the global market.”
At the 61st Trade Day ceremony held at COEX in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, Prime Minister Han expressed this in a congratulatory speech, saying, “We will support our companies to engage in exports without wavering despite rapidly changing external conditions.”
During the event, Prime Minister Han did not mention the martial law situation. His speech focused on commending the hard work of trade officials and emphasizing government support.
Prime Minister Han stated, “We will manage the trade environment stably based on the steadfast Korea-U.S. alliance with the next U.S. administration,” and added, “We will discover cooperative areas in shipbuilding and bio sectors that can be mutually beneficial and create new export opportunities.” He also emphasized his commitment to supporting export network capacities, based on the expansion of the ‘Supply Chain Stabilization Fund’ to 10 trillion won next year.
He continued, “We will widen the economic field for companies to operate in,” and said, “We will expand the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) network from covering 85% of the global GDP to 90%.”
Additionally, he promised to support △ the exploration of new markets by companies △ the nurturing of 100,000 export SMEs △ and the expansion of trade insurance for SMEs and mid-sized companies to 100 trillion won.
Prime Minister Han further commented, “Today marks exactly 60 years since the ‘First Export Day’ was held to celebrate achieving 100 million dollars in exports. I hope this will be a rallying point for a vigorous start to the new 60 years,” and urged, “Let’s once again join forces to make Korea one of the top five export countries.”