Holding JETRO-KOTRA Regular Council

November 2016

On November 8, a delegation was invited from the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA) to JETRO Headquarters for the 40th JETRO-KOTRA Regular Council and a summit meeting by the leaders of both organizations.

The first council was held in November 1967 soon after the opening of JETRO Seoul. Since then, it has been alternately held in Korea and Japan on a regular basis. This year marked its 40th occasion.

The 39th session was held in Seoul in November 2010. Although it was agreed then that the next meeting would be held in Japan in 2012, it had since been continuously postponed. With relations between both countries once again moving forward in a future-oriented manner since last year, this was the first council to be held in six years.

At the beginning of the council, JETRO Chairman and CEO Hiroyuki Ishige stated the following: “The current scale of trade and investment between Korea and Japan does not reflect the potential of both countries. In other words, there is room for it to further expand. I also believe that both of our organizations will be able to encourage companies in Korea and Japan to further collaborate in expanding into the markets of third countries. I would like to emphasize that the roles KOTRA and JETRO should play in realizing this are significant since both organizations have effective frameworks for arrangement and connection with the endorsement of our respective governments."

KOTRA President and CEO Jaehong Kim announced his agency's determination to strengthen cooperative relationships between companies from both countries by expressing the following: “We hope that JETRO and KOTRA will play a leading role in enhancing collaboration between Korea and Japan for trade and investment, and we will also continue our efforts to maintain the high standards of this role.”

Topics regarding management policies and various activities in the fields of trade and investment conducted by both organizations were mutually introduced and discussed. Both sides also reached an agreement on specific plans for future cooperation as follows: