President Park Geun-hye called Tuesday for small and medium-sized companies to sell more goods to foreign countries in the latest push to boost exports.
Exports account for about half of South Korea’s gross domestic product, but contribution by small and medium-sized firms is almost negligible.
Park called on small and medium-sized firms to play an active role in exports, noting that only 2.7 percent of all small and medium-sized firms ship their goods to foreign countries.
Park has vowed to rein in the economic dominance of conglomerates, known as chaebol, and shift the economy from one that relies heavily on exports by large conglomerates to one in which both big and small firms coexist.
She also called on officials to take follow-up measures to help South Korean companies make inroads into foreign countries in such fields as health care, food and information and communication technology.
Park said emerging countries’ moves to diversify their economic portfolios could offer new business opportunities for South Korean companies in those fields.
In March, South Korea and the United Arab Emirates inked a memorandum of understanding on cooperation in halal food products, a move Seoul says could give South Korea access to the huge global halal market.
South Korea plans to double its export of halal food products to $1.2 billion by 2017.
Halal is an Arabic word meaning “lawful” or “permitted.” Halal food is prepared according to religious rules for Muslims, but 80 percent of the food comes from non-Muslim countries and companies. (Yonhap)
