(SEOUL=NEWSIS) On August 10, the Korea Trade Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA) organized a follow-up meeting for businesses that attended the Korea-India and Korea-Singapore business forums which were each held in India and Singapore last month, during the President Moon's state visit to the countries.

During the Korea-India and Korea-Singapore business forums, 63 Korean (28 to India and 35 to Singapore), 153 Indian and 92 Singaporean companies participated in the events and had 477 one-on-one business meetings (291 with India and 186 with Singapore), concluded four contracts and signed 14 MOUs.

The follow-up meeting was co-organized with the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) and the Korea International Trade Association (KITA), and was attended by related organizations and 10 small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). Discussions took place on how to support follow-up projects and resolve difficulties to lead to successful outcomes from the forums.

"To effectively respond to the changing global trade environment, including the U.S.-China trade war, economic cooperation with the new southern countries has to be reinforced," participating companies said in chorus adding that "The forums were held during President Moon's visit, to enter both the Indian market where the economy is rapidly growing after Prime Minister Modi's inauguration as well as the Singaporean market which plays the role as the gateway to the ASEAN market, and they were very effective, so we hope to have more of these opportunities."

"We will implement the follow-up measures from the visits to India and Singapore according to the plan, and also strengthen our efforts to provide follow-up support to the SMEs that participated in the forum," said Kwon Pyung-oh, the President and CEO of KOTRA, and added, "We will focus on achieving positive outcomes by expanding platforms to offer practical support as part of the government's New Southern Policy."

hong@newsis.com