[Sponsored Report] Memorandum signed with Chinese free trade zone
Officials from Korea’s Busan-Jinhae Free Economic Zone (BJFEZ) and northeastern China’s Quingdao Free Trade Zone (QDFTZ) signed a memorandum of understanding to support cooperation on foreign direct investment and other important trade issues between the two countries on Dec. 26.
Established in 1992 and operated by the Chinese government, the QDFTZ is located in China’s coastal Shandong Province and hosts 40 businesses from the list of Fortune 500 companies. In total, more than 4,000 companies operate in the zone in a variety of fields, including the technology, distribution and manufacturing industries.
The newly minted agreement between the two zones will provide administrative support for companies of one zone when they invest in the other and calls for exchanges of officials from the two countries and sharing of economic information that should prove helpful to all parties involved.
The head of the QDFTZ voiced hopes that the new agreement between the two countries will be beneficial to both parties.
And in anticipation of a potential free trade agreement between Korea and China, the two zones will conduct research together on the possible impact of such an agreement so that they will be prepared should one ever come into force.
Recently, Korea has entered into FTAs with the United States and the European Union, and given the large volume of trade between Korea and China, some see an FTA with the Chinese government as the next logical step.
Officials from the BJFEZ plan to sign MOUs in the future with business areas in other parts of China, such as Guangzhou and Jilin, in order to strengthen efforts to promote investment in emerging markets and attract further investment from Chinese firms who want to do business in Korea.
By Lee Ji-hyun [concordia@joongang.co.kr]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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