The development of economic and technical cooperation of the Russian and South Korean governments has been paying increasing attention in recent years. The Kaliningrad region is one of the regions on whose territory the interaction between the countries has a positive result. The trade turnover between our region and South Korea grew by two times in 2017. Companies from the East Asian country show increased attention to the possibilities of localizing production in the Kaliningrad Special Economic Zone.
On Thursday, August 30, the President of the Korean-Russian Business Council, Jeong Ho Pak, and the directors of the leading shipbuilding equipment manufacturers visited the Kaliningrad Region.
In the first half of the day shipbuilders met with representatives of ship repair companies in the region. The round table was held on the site of the Entrepreneurship Support Fund. It was also attended by the Minister for Industrial Policy, Entrepreneurship and Trade Support Dmitry Kuskov, Head of the Enterprise Development Department of the Fund for the Support of Entrepreneurship of the Kaliningrad Region Alexander Belyashov, Director of the Cluster Development Center Dmitry Ofitserov. The development corporation of the region at the talks was represented by Deputy General Director Oleg Skvortsov.
“The shipbuilding and shiprepair industry is one of the most promising areas of industrial development in the Kaliningrad region. Currently, more than 30 companies actively work in the region, providing services and offering the market with modern, demanded products, employing more than 5,000 people. The 15 largest of them agreed to enter the Kaliningrad shipbuilding cluster. The government of the region and the Center for Cluster Development are carrying out purposeful work to register this industrial association. This will provide an opportunity to receive subsidies from the federal budget for the purchase of equipment and the construction of large infrastructure facilities”, Dmitry Kuskov told at the meeting.
Oleg Skvortsov informed the participants of the round table about localization opportunities, industrial parks and benefits of the Kaliningrad Special Economic Zone.
After the meeting, a delegation of South Korean shipbuilders inspected the Yantar shipyard and held negotiations in the B2B format with Kaliningrad-based companies.
After lunch, a working meeting of the South Korean delegation with the vice-prime minister of the Kaliningrad region government Harry Goldman was held. Vladimir Zarudny, Director General of the Region Development Corporation, also attended the talks.
During the meeting, the president of the Korean-Russian Business Council, Mr. Jeong-hoo Pak, confirmed the intentions of the shipbuilders to develop joint ventures using the advantages of the Special Economic Zone.
In turn, the General Director of the Development Corporation, Vladimir Zarudny, drew attention to the comfort and positive experience of doing business by South Korean companies in the Kaliningrad region. "If the shipbuilders with their technologies and competencies come to the region, they will be able to rely on the long-standing experience of Avtotor's cooperation with Kia and Huyndai. There are also established transport corridors connecting South Korea and the region, there is an ice-free port of Kaliningrad, which is also interested in additional loading, and a wide network of business development and support institutions that will help reduce the costs of launching industrial production in a new territory", Vladimir Zarudny said.
At the end of the meeting, the representatives of the government and the Korean-Russian Business Council agreed to hold a new round of talks on the sidelines of the September Eastern Economic Forum and the thematic exhibition of equipment manufacturers for the shipbuilding sector that will be held in Busan this October.
Photo: the press service of the Kaliningrad Region Development Corporation; Edward Molchanov.
