S. Korea to ease regulations to boost foreign investment
S. Korea will ease regulations on imports of electric vehicles, chemical substances and other items in an effort to attract more foreign investment to the country, the industry ministry said on Dec. 8. They are part of 40 major measures that the government came up with to revamp imports and investment rules, after a total of 454 such requests from foreign companies here had been made through surveys and meetings conducted earlier this year. The largest share of the demand, or 27 percent, was about rules on examination and certification, followed by environment and labor regulations, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.
Of the measures, the government decided to revise process and conditions of required tests on the imports of EVs and plug-in hybrid vehicles to meet international standards. It will also relax rules on bringing in restricted chemical substances and foreign firms' management of facilities inside free economic zones, according to the ministry. During the first nine months of this year, foreign direct investment pledges to S. Korea hit an all-time high of USD 21.52 billion on the back of solid growth in investment in such advanced sectors as chips and batteries, government data showed.
S. Korea to report best ever exports performance this year: trade ministry
S. Korea is expected to log a record annual value of exports this year to become the world's sixth-largest exporter despite a global economic slowdown, the trade ministry said on Dec. 5. The value of the country's exports is expected to come to over USD 680 billion for this year, which will be larger than an all-time high of USD 644.4 billion set the previous year, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. The country rose to the world's No. 6 exporter this year, up by one notch from the previous year, according to the ministry. The performance was on the back of solid demand for the country's major export items, including semiconductors and petro products, as well as the record high sales of electric vehicles, secondary cells, and military items.
Vietnam emerges as S. Korea's No. 3 trading partner
Vietnam will finish this year as S. Korea's No. 3 trading partner and the country with which the latter has the largest trade surplus, a study has shown. The Federation of Korean Industries on Dec. 21 released an analysis on trade between the two countries from 1992, when they formed diplomatic ties, to last year to mark the 30th anniversary of bilateral relations. The report said Korea has kept a trade surplus with Vietnam since posting USD 300 million in 1992. This year, the 30th anniversary of ties, the black figure reached USD 31.3 billion, surpassing the surplus with the US of USD 25.4 billion as the highest among Korea's trading partners. Since forming ties three decades ago, both countries have seen bilateral trade jump 161 times from USD 500 million in 1992 to USD 80.7 billion last year.
*This article is extracted from Invest KOREA information center, 2023.
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