Gangwon Special Self-Governing Province is holding an online export consultation event with overseas buyers from Monday through Friday.
The integrated export consultation event connects small and medium-sized exporters in the province one-on-one with overseas buyers to help local companies break into new overseas markets. This year marks the fourth edition of the program.
Last year, the event generated 1,340 export consultations worth $150.32 million and 1,190 contract negotiations valued at $52.67 million.
The online sessions, held ahead of the in-person event, use a video conferencing platform to facilitate one-on-one export consultations between provincial companies and overseas buyers.
Gangwon Province recruited participating companies and overseas buyers from April through July, selecting 100 small and medium-sized exporters in sectors including food, beauty and medical devices, along with more than 200 buyer companies from 40 countries. A total of 600 export consultations are scheduled.
The offline sessions will be held Oct. 27-28 at the InterBurgo Hotel in Wonju and will be linked to the current online event.
Organizers will analyze buyer interest, consultation content and contract prospects to identify companies and buyers requiring follow-up discussions, then support in-depth consultations at the in-person venue.
Earlier, Gangwon Province conducted export training for participating companies in June, provided overseas buyers with product information and samples from provincial firms in advance, and matched consultation pairs based on the needs of both sides.
The province plans to strengthen vetting of overseas buyers' creditworthiness and other qualifications, and will run side events at the offline sessions — including promotional and investor-relations video production and live commerce broadcasts — to help drive export results.
Kim Mun-gi, director of the province's economic affairs bureau, said the goal of the program is to help small and medium-sized enterprises in the province secure new overseas markets and build lasting trade relationships. "We will conduct consultations tailored to the needs of both companies and overseas buyers, and will provide systematic follow-up support even after the event to help expand export contracts and sales channels," Kim said.
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