President Park Geun-hye explains the results of her trips to the Middle East(March 1-9) and Latin America(April 16-27) to the heads of the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry(KCCI), the Federation of Korea Industries(FKI), the Korea International Trade Association(KITA), the Korea Federation of SMEs, and KOTRA at a forum on the results and expansion of economic diplomacy that took place at the KCCI in Seoul on May 12.(Photo:KCCI)

The essence of President Park Geun-hye’s recent trip to South and Latin America and the Middle East was exploring world markets so Korea can continue to develop economically. 

The Chief Executive’s summit meetings with heads of visiting countries provided an opportunity for Korean firms to shoot for pieces of some $115 billion worth of infrastructural projects in those regions, including Columbia’s $7.5 billion subway construction project, Kuwait’s new oil refinery construction project worth $7.8 billion and Saudi Arabia’s new gas plant worth $3 billion, to name some.

In her speech at a forum on May 12 at the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) in Seoul, President Park said the government will extend support to SMEs to expand exports. Park said she hoped that SMEs would also step up their moves to explore markets for their products abroad. President Park also called for further diversification of Korean export products to ICT, healthcare, medicine, new energy and other high value-added products. She stressed that more Korean products needed to be seen abroad, and the only way for that to happen is to expand exports of cultural products, manpower and software. 

The President’s economic diplomacy in some of the countries in those two key regions of the world will surly help Korean firms secure some of those huge construction projects.

At the forum on May 12, the government and business community agreed to go all out to secure many of those large industrial projects, in a bid to overcome the limit of the country’s domestic market. The plan is in line with the government’s initiative to expand the number of new growth engines for a continued upsurge in the Korean economy.

Korean firms clinched some $56.6 billion in large-scale construction projects during the President’s state visits to the regions, and they will try to secure more projects worth some $115 billion — the huge projects that the President laid the groundwork for. Some $6.4 billion worth of projects were firmly secured in the first of the year out of the $56.6 billion worth of projects that Korean firms captured during the Presidential tours.

LG International and Hyundai Engineering signed a contract worth $1 billion to modernize an oil refinery in Turkmenistan. Around 58 Korean firms have secured a foothold to engage in new business areas in the Middle East through free trade agreements and individual contacts with business firms in the region.

President Park Geun-hye called on the leaders of five constitutional bodies to support the government's efforts to revitalize the economy, stressing that the nation should be united to pull off another "economic leap" forward.

Park invited National Assembly Speaker Chung Ui-hwa, Supreme Court Chief Justice Yang Seung-tae, Constitutional Court President Park Han-chul, National Election Commission Chairman Lee In-bok and Prime Minister Lee Wan-koo to Cheong Wa Dae to explain the outcome of her recent trip to the Middle East and secure their support for her economic initiatives.

"I call on and expect you to play a great role in mustering up everyone's strength and minds to achieve another economic leap forward," she said in discussing the achievements her government made during her trip to Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar from March 1-9.

President Park visited Colombia, Peru, Chile and Brazil from April 16-27, Ju Chul-ki, senior presidential secretary for foreign affairs, said in a briefing.