The government plans to induce foreign direct investment worth over USD 15 billion centering on the green, new growth engine, regional development, high value added service industries.
 

The Ministry of Knowledge Economy confirmed and announced ‘the policy to promote foreign investment in 2011’ at the meeting of Foreign Investment Commission presided over by Minister Choi Joong-kyung on January 31st.
 

The Ministry plans to attract foreign investment mainly from 135 companies it identified last year as promising ones in the green energy, bio, IT convergence, and other key industries, and to provide incentives in the form of cash and sites for their facilities.
 

Also, MKE plans to include foreign-invested companies in the marina operation, and consolidate the foundation for high value-added service industry by raising the global contents fund worth KRW 200 billion (government: 80 billion, private: 120 billion) by 2012.
 

Efforts to promote foreign investment will be tailored to companies and promising areas by country and region. Regional clusters of IT, automobile, and shipbuilding will be promoted into global brands. Also, investment seminars will be held jointly by the Ministry and local governments on regional development projects such as free economic zones, Yongsan station area, and Jeju Healthcare Town.
 

Investment from emerging countries such as China and the Middle East will be more aggressively attracted.
 

The Ministry of Knowledge Economy and its Chinese counterpart will hold a minister-level investment cooperation committee to lay the groundwork for government-level cooperation in investment promotion.
 

Currently, China Desk is centered on Shanghai, but will be expanded to Beijing and Guangzhou. ‘China Club,’ a group of Chinese CEOs whose companies invest over USD 1 million in Korea, will be launched in upcoming March to encourage Chinese companies to increase their investment.
 

Cooperation will be strengthened with Chinese sovereign funds such as CIC-SAFE (China) and GIC-Temasek (Singapore). IR events will be held for companies in China, Hong Kong, and Singapore in the first half of this year in order to meet various investment demands.
 

Korea-Abu Dhabi Investment Forum, held at the United Arab Emirates in last October, will be made regular to promote investment from the Middle East. Investment products tailored to sovereign funds of the Middle East countries will be developed to have strategic IR.
 

As regards emerging countries such as Russia and India with abundant capital and increasing overseas investment, KOTRA KBC will reinforce its function to promote investment along with IR activities.
 

The free trade agreements with the U.S. and Europe will be fully utilized in courting foreign investment.
 

The Ministry of Knowledge Economy plans to make more aggressive efforts in attracting investment from companies in the automobile, electricity and electronics, wireless communication apparatus, chemicals, medical instruments and other promising industries, tariffs on which will be significantly reduced. Legal, accounting, broadcasting, and communication industries will be more opened following FTAs with the U.S and Europe, and investment from the sectors will be induced selectively.
 

In a bid to help Korea’s established and small- and mid-sized enterprises seize the opportunities of FTAs, the investment support center will be launched to provide education and information on the effects of FTAs and consulting services in investment promotion.
 

Individual-type foreign investment zones will see eased designation standards designed to maximize the effects from support. For example, the standards for the manufacturing industry will go down from USD 30 million to 10 million, and from 10 million to 5 million for the logistics industry.
 

Free economic zones will be required to designate sites for foreign-invested companies in order to improve business and living environment for foreign investors. The policy to grant permanent residency to investors who purchase real estates, currently applied only to Jeju, will be expanded to other regions.

Source: Press release (Feb. 1, 2011)