Nicaraguan Ambassador to Korea Edgardo Jose Cuarezma Garcia speaks of ways to boost cooperation between Korea and Nicaragua at the ‘Business Opportunity Forum’ between Korea and six Central American countries, held in Seoul on Dec. 21.
Korea and six Central American countries sought new business opportunities at a special forum held in Seoul on Dec. 21.
The “Business Opportunity Forum” allowed representatives from Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua and Panama to introduce their respective potential projects of which Korean firms could be part. These six nations are the ones in which the Korean government could seek more trade and investment opportunities, as they signed a free trade agreement in November this year. The projects mentioned at the Seoul forum are worth about USD 400 million.
The projects include “Project for Electric Power Network” and “Broadband-based Healthcare Project,” both jointly carried out by the six Central American countries. “New Renewable Energy Project” in Nicaragua and “Energy Project aimed at electricity in the western region of Costa Rica,” too, garnered lots of attention from the participating Korean energy companies.
Participants of the ‘Business Opportunity Forum’ between Korea and six Central American countries on Dec. 21 listen as a representative from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) talks about ways to raise funds in order to carry out projects discussed at the forum between representatives from Seoul and the six Central American nations.
The forum participants agreed that in order to make the projects possible, “smooth fund raising in a target nation” and “the establishment of a cooperative network with international organizations” would be required. They also committed to building the above mentioned cooperative network among international bodies, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and Korean firms.
“The six Central American countries in attendance at the forum have in common culture, traditions, languages and politics. However, when it comes to business, there are different opportunities in each country as they are on different economic development levels, and possess different industrial policies,” said an official from the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. “Hopefully, our governments, alongside international organizations, will continue to work together to draw more concrete measures, in particular, measures for raising of finances, so as to undertake the projects without any problems, as discussed at the Seoul forum.”
By Sohn JiAe Korea.net Staff Writer Photos: Yonhap News jiae5853@korea.kr