The Basque Country opens a new trade office in South Korea at the service of the Basque company

The new commercial office of Basque Trade and Investment belonging to the Spri Group has opened its doors in Seoul with the aim of providing service to Basque companies and facilitating commercial relations between the Basque Country and South Korea.

The office is located in a central street in the Korean capital, in an area surrounded by institutional and business activity, and for the time being has a team made up of a commercial director and a project manager, who will be joined by a deputy.

The presence of the Basque Government in this country represents a qualitative leap in the internationalisation strategy as, together with the need to consolidate the European and American markets, it is now committed to boosting business activity in Asian markets. This is why BTI Tokyo (Japan) was opened in 2021 and BTI Seoul (South Korea) in 2022, taking into account the office that has been active in China for more than a decade.

The activity of the Basque company in South Korea is still in its infancy and everything suggests that the reality of this market may generate new opportunities that Basque industry must take advantage of.

South Korea, an underexplored country with enormous potential

The Asia-Pacific region arouses great economic interest as Asia will be the world region that will account for the greatest future economic growth in most of the Basque Country’s strategic sectors. It will also make the largest investments worldwide in key areas such as energy generation, electricity grids, machine tools, telecommunications and social and healthcare.

The Basque Government is taking into account the signing of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) treaty, which represents a market of 2.1 billion consumers that today accounts for 30% of the world’s GDP, and the expected change in the major international trade corridors that may affect the Basque Country, in which the ASEAN area (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) is becoming more relevant.

It believes that the Basque Country and Basque companies should begin to look to this region as a priority area for their internationalisation, especially if we take into account the limited presence of Basque companies in some of its regions (ASEAN, Japan, Korea).

For this very reason, it is an ambitious commitment in the process of internationalisation that involves strengthening the traditional markets of Europe, the USA and Latin America, and taking a new leap that has already been reflected in the recent opening of the commercial office in Japan (2021) and Korea (2022). This means that the Basque Country now has 6 offices available to its companies in Asia: China, India, Singapore, Japan, Turkey and South Korea.

In the specific case of Korea, it has a sophisticated demand, and economic and regulatory stability. It also stands out due to its compatibility with the Basque economy and its ease of doing business.

Euskadi-Korea fusion at the launch of BTI Seoul

On Thursday, the last day of the Basque office’s agenda in South Korea, the representatives of the Basque Government and the Spri Group held a morning working session with the team from the BTI Seoul office.

After visiting the company K-Water and one of its tidal power plants located on the west coast of South Korea, and after having met with the heads of Invest Korea and the local media Maekyung Media Group and Chosun Biz, the day ended with a public event for the launch of BTI Seoul. It was held in a centrally located hotel in the presence of more than sixty institutional and business representatives from South Korea. The event was also attended by the directors of Basque companies with commercial and/or production activity in the Asian country.

It should be noted that the Basque Country has thirteen (**) companies with a direct presence in this market, including the Biscayan company Befesa, whose production plant was visited yesterday afternoon by the Industry team of the Department of Economic Development, Sustainability and the Environment.

At the socio-economic event, the Deputy Minister of Industry, Mikel Amundarain, highlighted the Basque Country’s industrial and technological capabilities and stressed that the new BTI Seoul delegation is starting up at the service of Basque companies and with the aim of establishing commercial ties between the two countries.

*information contained in the press release issued last Monday, 28 November 2022

**correction of the data contained in the press release issued yesterday, 30 November, in which eight Basque companies established in South Korea were mentioned. The correct figure is thirteen companies.