KOTRA is intensifying its export strategy for the Middle East following the U.S.-Iran conflict. The agency aims to support South Korean companies in entering the Middle Eastern market, focusing on promising sectors such as reconstruction, defense, consumer goods, and healthcare.
On June 23, KOTRA held an emergency meeting led by President Kang Kyung-seong, with participation from heads of 13 trade offices in the Middle East. The meeting addressed logistics normalization in the Strait of Hormuz, export recovery efforts, and strategies for entering reconstruction, defense, healthcare, and consumer goods markets.
KOTRA plans to expand support for defense exports in line with the trend of strengthening national defense among Middle Eastern countries. The agency will host consultations with state-owned defense companies and government agencies from the UAE, Kuwait, and Oman, while also facilitating local maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) cooperation and investment attraction.
In the K-consumer goods sector, KOTRA will enhance support for K-beauty pop-up stores and distribution network entry, as well as expand export consultations. The Korea-UAE Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), which took effect in May, will also be leveraged to boost exports to the Middle East.
Industry insiders believe that following the conflict, Middle Eastern countries may increase defense procurement in response to security uncertainties, while also expanding imports of essential consumer goods such as healthcare, food, and cosmetics, potentially creating more opportunities for South Korean companies.
In the infrastructure sector, KOTRA will respond to projects related to oil refining, LNG, water treatment, digital infrastructure recovery, and energy security. The agency plans to organize consultation sessions linked to infrastructure exhibitions in the second half of the year, dispatch delegations, and facilitate pinpoint consultations between domestic companies and project issuers in key countries.
KOTRA is also preparing to address the Iranian and Levant markets. In anticipation of potential sanctions relief for Iran, the agency will hold a seminar on responding to economic opening in Iran and support the restoration of local institutional and corporate networks. In Lebanon and Syria, KOTRA will host business forums focused on essential goods such as healthcare, biotechnology, and food, while also supporting intermediary exports using third countries like Jordan.
Additionally, KOTRA has activated a 'Post-Middle East Task Force' involving its headquarters and Middle Eastern organizational network. The task force will operate across five divisions focusing on trend analysis, export recovery, reconstruction projects, promising product exports, and logistics response.
Kang Kyung-seong, President of KOTRA, stated, "While we have focused on stabilizing supply chains, supporting affected companies, and finding alternative markets, it is now time to concentrate our efforts on seizing new orders and business opportunities in the post-conflict Middle East. We will provide comprehensive support for companies to recover exports and capture new opportunities in the region."
* This article has been translated by AI.
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