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On Nov. 7, Invest Korea Week(IKW) 2017 kicked off for athree-day run at the GrandInterContinental Seoul Parnas

in Seoul. Now in its 13th year, IKW is anational investor relations event hosted bythe Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy(MOTIE) and the Korea Trade-InvestmentPromotion Agency (KOTRA). The eventis designed to promote Korea’s merits asan investment destination and introducepotential foreign investors to successstrategies and promising investment oppor-tunities in the country.

Under the theme of ‘FDI’s Impact onJob Creation and the Growth of the FourthIndustrial Revolution,’ this year’s IKWfeatured a job fair for foreign-investedcompanies and a separate career day eventfor Bluebell Korea, in an attempt to createjobs for foreign-invested firms and helpthem contribute to the Korean economy. Inregards to the Fourth Industrial Revolution,diverse programs were provided includingthe Global Investment Forum, one-on-onebusiness partnering opportunities for start-ups and roundtable discussions for majorinvestors. Some 2,500 participants attend-ed the event, including 233 foreigninvestors from 203 companies and some1,500 job seekers.

On Nov. 9, Korean startups had theopportunity to showcase their products andservices in the investment promotion ses-sions. A total of 10 domestic startups withimmense potential for growth and globalmarket entry had pitching presentations.

One-on-one business meetings were alsoprovided for about 140 foreign investorsand 200 Korean firms seeking foreign cap-itals.

IKW also offered exclusive programsfor foreign journalists to promote Korea’sattractive investment environment. Theopening ceremony was live streamed in28 countries by Channel NewsAsia,Singapore’s state-run news agency with thethird largest number of viewers in Asia. Ontop of that, IKW also hosted a sidelineevent with journalists from 22 major for-eign media outlets, including Japan’sYomiuri Shimbun, Germany’s FrankfurterAllgemeine Zeitung and Italy’s Il Sole 24Ore. The press conference covered topicsfrom Korea’s roadmap for the FourthIndustrial Revolution to its FDI policydirection. The participating journalists alsohad a chance to visit companies and organ-izations related to smart factories, Internetof Things (IoT) and robotics, all of whichare standing at the forefront of the techno-logical transformations unfolding in Korea.

Meanwhile, foreign investors were

invited to take a tour of three FreeEconomic Zones–Incheon, Busan-Jinhaeand Chungbuk. They visited industrialsites and met foreign-invested businessesoperating in those specialized areas. Theyalso learned about investment benefits aswell as assistance they can receive if theydecide to locate their businesses in thezones.

During IKW, the PyeongChang 2018Olympics booth was also operated to drawattention and encourage participation offoreign investors in the Winter Gameswhich will be held 100 days after theevent.

“With Korea’s economic growth hittinga seven-year high in the third quarter ofthis year, foreign investment is seeing posi-tive growth,” said Lee Taisik, KOTRA’svice president. “KOTRA will continue towork closely with government agenciesand related organizations to help foreignfirms with everything from investmentplanning to follow-up management, to suc-cessfully enter the Korean market.”

Event Overview

Foreign companies seekinvestment opportunties

and new talent atInvest Korea Week