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KOREA-QUEBEC
The trade volume between Korea and the Province of Quebec
recorded C$804 million dollars in 2003.
 Ambassador
RHEE, Soo-taek, Permanent Representative to ICAO
and Consul General of the Republic of Korea in Quebec, in an
interview with Diplomat Investment, spoke about the many
business opportunities in Korea, available to Quebec
investors. He also would like to witness renewed growth in
bilateral trade and economic cooperation, as well as finding
ways to facilitate exchange between Korea and Quebec.
Diplomat Investment: Since taking up office in Montreal, tell
us what has been the level of trade and economic cooperation
between Korea and Montreal?
Ambassador RHEE
Soo-taek:
I believe trade and economic
cooperation between Korea and Quebec, specifically Montreal,
has steadily developed on the basis of mutual
complementarities in the industrial structure.Trade volume
between Korea and the province of Quebec, recorded $804m
dollars CDN in 2003. Korea exported semiconductors, clothing,
automobile, auto-parts and wireless phones, while importing
electronic and electrical products, timber, helicopter parts
etc. One encouraging factor is the recent trend, in trade
between the two is the extension from the traditional industry
to the, so-called, high-tech industry the IT, BT, and aircraft
environment. Nevertheless, I believe there are still many
things to do, since the trade volume still remains at a low
level. In light of the economic scales of Korea and Quebec,
many predict it should have been expanded much further, and
that such an outcome may be due to a lack of direct flight
connecting Seoul and Montreal. I hope we will be able to open
a direct flight line soon, enabling to facilitate exchanges of
people and goods between the two.
If we continue to share a firm determination to work together,
I am sure that bilateral trade and economic cooperation will
keep growing in the future.
What are the activity sectors most susceptible to attract
Korean investors’ interests to Montreal and what would be the
business opportunities in Korea, most likely to attract
potential Montreal investors to Korea?
Considering the attractive business environment in terms of
affluent human resources, well-developed traffic and
transportation infra, stable labor-management relations,
relatively cheap cost of energy and rent, I think that
Montreal has already had enough merits to draw more and more
attention of foreign investors. I think Korean businessmen are
very much interested in areas such as the IT, BT, environment,
chemical, aircraft where Montreal has demonstrated strong
competitiveness with high technologies. One remarkable example
would be the case of Korea Aviation Inc. which has developed
cooperative relationship with Bell Helicopter Textron over the
past years. Many Quebec companies have made investment or
participated in joint projects in Korea. Abitibi-consolidated
is now operating a paper mill in Korea and some financing
companies have purchased real estate in Seoul. I think that
automobile and auto- parts are one of the promising areas
where strategic partnerships can be developed between
companies in Korea and Quebec.In short, I would say there are
enormous possibilities for mutual investment between the two
countries.
There is certainly much talk about the new business diplomacy.
Would you brief us on this new diplomacy concept and the
strategies adopted to promote your country in Montreal?
What I think about the new business diplomacy is all kinds of
diplomatic efforts to promote bilateral trade and mutual
investment in both ways, not in one way. To attain this goal,
we have adopted a two-track approach. First, as we have done
before, we are providing Korean companies with information on
business environment and local companies in Montreal. We
recommend Korean business circles to dispatch their
delegations to Montreal or to hold joint business seminars
where much is available to Korean businessmen.
Secondly, we are also playing the bridging role for Canadian
companies which are willing to advance into Korea. We are
distributing brochures or booklets introducing Korean
companies to several business organizations and companies
which are interested in business or projects in Korea.
Sometimes, we do not hesitate to search Korean companies on
behalf of local companies in Montreal which have difficulty
in finding for their Korean counterparts. For the record, I
must underline that our Government is making every effort to
improve the business environment in Korea as well as
proceeding with FTA agreements with several countries. We
welcome the investment of Montreal companies in Korea.
We hope to see a FTA between Canada and Korea which would
contribute to expanding bilateral trade volume by leaps and
bounds. For a successful business diplomacy, I think it is
indispensable to secure coordination and cooperation from
business circles in Montreal and the Quebec provincial
government. I wish that they could have much interest in
economic cooperation with Korea.
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