KOTRA (Korea Trade Promotion Corporation initially, Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency since 1995) is a state-funded trade and investment promotion organization operated by the

Government of South Korea The Government of South Korea is the union government of the Republic of Korea, created by the Constitution of South Korea as the executive, legislative and judicial authority of the republic. The president acts as the head of state and is th ...

."Kotra is not a tourist agency"
''Korea JoongAng Daily'' October 19, 2013. Retrieved on December 2, 2013. KOTRA was established in 1962 as a national

trade Trade involves the transfer of goods and services from one person or entity to another, often in exchange for money. Economists refer to a system or network that allows trade as a market. An early form of trade, barter, saw the direct exc ...

promotion organization."(Editorial) Appointing Presidents at State Companies"
''Hankyoreh" April 12, 2005. Retrieved on December 2, 2013. Since then, it has facilitated Korea's rapid export-led

economic An economy is an area of the production, distribution and trade, as well as consumption of goods and services. In general, it is defined as a social domain that emphasize the practices, discourses, and material expressions associated with th ...

development through various trade promotion activities such as overseas market surveys, SME export promotion, trade info services, government-to-gov't export, foreign investment in Korea (FDI) promotion and business matchmaking.

Activities

In August 1995, cross-border

investment Investment is the dedication of money to purchase of an asset to attain an increase in value over a period of time. Investment requires a sacrifice of some present asset, such as time, money, or effort. In finance, the purpose of investing is ...

promotion and support for

technological Technology is the application of knowledge to reach practical goals in a specifiable and reproducible way. The word ''technology'' may also mean the product of such an endeavor. The use of technology is widely prevalent in medicine, science, ...

and industrial cooperation projects were added to KOTRA's mandate, and it was renamed the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency under the

Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) is a ministry under the Government of South Korea. It is concerned with regulating some economic policy, especially with regard to the industrial and energy sectors. The ministry also works to e ...

(MOTIE). KOTRA currently operates

Invest KOREA Invest KOREA (IK), Korea's national investment promotion agency, was established as part of the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA) to promote foreign direct investment(FDI) to Korea. It provides comprehensive services for all investm ...

, the national investment promotion agency. Originally initiated as the Korea Investment Service Center (KISC) in 1998, the agency was relaunched as Invest KOREA in November 2003 to support foreign investors with an expanded range of services. To take advantage of the era of

E-Commerce E-commerce (electronic commerce) is the activity of electronically buying or selling of products on online services or over the Internet. E-commerce draws on technologies such as mobile commerce, electronic funds transfer, supply chain manag ...

, KOTRA launched the interactive

internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, p ...

portal sites of Invest KOREA Online (formerly Cyber KISC) in 2003 and BuyKorea in 2004. KOTRA Academy was launched in 2003 as a professional learning center for

international business International business refers to the trade of goods, services, technology, capital and/or knowledge across national borders and at a global or transnational scale. It involves cross-border transactions of goods and services between two or mor ...

. KOTRA has an extensive worldwide network of overseas Korea Trade Centers (KTC). As of November 28, 2020, KOTRA has a network of 127 offices in 84 countries worldwide with 10 of the regional headquarters.

KOTRA Seal of Excellence

The KOTRA Seal of Excellence is a seal that KOTRA gives to companies which it deems qualified according to three major criteria. These are: Quality, High Technology, and Trustworthiness. As of June 2010, KOTRA has awarded the seal to 430 different companies. The purpose of the seal is to help foreign companies to identify quality products and companies in Korea.

References

External links

KOTRA Website
(English version)
KOTRA Website
(Korean version)
KOTRA Invest KOREA Website
(English version)
KOTRA Introduction: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKoliJuVCLs
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kotra International trade organizations Economy of South Korea