250 firms seek to enter global procurement market
Over 250 Korean firms are seeking procurement opportunities around the world at a public procurement fair in Seoul, organizers of the event said Wednesday.
Jointly organized by the Public Procurement Service (PPS), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA), the three-day event kicked off at the Intercontinental Seoul COEX in Samseong, southern Seoul, Wednesday.
The fair was organized to help small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) gain a competitive edge in entering the international procurement market.
Fifty-eight overseas buyers from 29 countries, and 20 international organizations and procurement authorities are providing consulting services on 600 projects.
Among the participants are representatives from Vietnam, Russia, Denmark and Romania, key countries Korean firms view as untapped markets.
Relevant working-level officials from those countries will hold sessions to help local firms understand and map out strategies to enter these markets during the event.
Similar sessions will be held by agencies under international organizations including the Asian Development Bank and the United Nations (U.N.).
They include the U.N. International Children’s Emergency Fund, the U.N. Office at Geneva, the U.N. Procurement Division and the U.N. Office for Project Services (UNOPS).
The Paris-based organizations will hold a special workshop to help businesses enter bids for U.N.-commissioned procurement projects worth about 20 trillion won ($17.3 billion).
Officials from the Korea Testing Laboratory and the Korea
Testing and Research Institute will help SMEs obtain accreditation, a crucial prerequisite to qualify as an eligible public procurement project participant.
“The close cooperation among Korean government organizations that have extensive overseas networks and professional expertise will be able to create synergy to better help local firms expand their business overseas,” a PPS official said.
“We expect the fair will be of great help to information technology and healthcare services firms.”
Shortly before the fair began, PPS Administrator Jung Mookyung and his Romanian counterpart Bogdan Puscas signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to boost cooperation between the two countries including human and technological exchanges.
The fair comes about six months after Jung visited the U.N. headquarters in New York in May to meet with relevant officials from UNOPS and the U.N. Department of Operational Support (UNDOS) to stress the competence of Korea’s innovation-oriented procurement system.
Jung signed an MOU with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) Institutions for Development Department Manager Moises J. Schwartz, to foster exchange programs between the PPS and IDB to help the latter better utilize Korea’s e-procurement training program, the Korea ONline E-procurement System (KONEPS).
“Many countries including those in Central and South America are seeking to adopt KONEPS. We are glad for the recognition from our global peers and happy to help them,” the PPS official said.
The PPS offers advice for SMEs on writing proposals needed to win bids, and supports SME market research teams review the viability and feasibility of their business plans.