Chairman & President Dongsoo Kim of Korea Eximbank announced at a press conference on November 17 that the Bank plans to develop a Green Pioneer Program in order to provide more systematic and effective support for growth and expansion of green industries.
The Green Pioneer Program is a comprehensive support policy that provides USD 20 billion annually until 2020 to 200 selected green enterprises. The program will mainly assist green enterprises in the field of renewable energy to secure a target of 500 green energy plant contracts.
The global green market is currently led by developed countries while late comers to the sector such as China are achieving rapid growth due to active government support. Korea, with only a small domestic market in the green sector, will not be able to apply the export strategy of "verifying in the domestic market before export," due to the sector's rapid pace of development.
Because Korean green enterprises lack experience in business development, they find it difficult to win contracts, which then makes it difficult to secure a track record and experience required for winning overseas contracts.
In this regards, Chairman Kim stated, "The Green Pioneer Program was developed to promote the export of the green industry as a future growth engine and applies the strategy of creating an overseas market before expanding the fundamentals in order to help companies strengthen track records accumulate business development experiences. In doing so, we hope to increase Korea's market share in the green sectors of developing countries."
For this, Korea Eximbank designated development of the Green Plant Program as a top priority and formed a task force which worked with expert consultants to conduct in-depth research and develop effective implementation measures over the two months since last September
The Green Pioneer Program of Korea Eximbank is mainly comprised of two parts -Green Plants and Green Champions.
Through the Green Plant program, Korea Eximbank will identify prospective businesses and provide them with project design development & advisory services, and tailored financial support through export financing and EDCF (Economic Development Cooperation Fund). By doing so, Korea Eximbank hopes to actively support expansion of the overseas green power plant market.
For business development, Korea Eximbank will utilize its overseas network of international development organizations and close consultative relations with governments of developing countries. In addition, Korea Eximbank will strengthen local marketing support through alliance with export information providers and developers.
Moreover, through the Green Champion program, Korea Eximbank will provide a range of financial products to effectively meet the special needs of each process from securing technological competitiveness of prospective green export enterprises* and achieving commercialization** to exporting. Also, Korea Eximbank will link the program with the Bank's Korean Hidden Champion Initiative to nurture global leaders in the green sector.
* R&D, M&A, License, etc.
** Funds for facilities
*** Arrangement of overseas contracts linked with the Green Plant sector, Green Express Loans, and Relending
An official from Korea Eximbank stated, "Through this program, we hope to achieve USD 35 billion annually in green exports until 2020 and create 34,000 new jobs. It will bring enormous economic benefits to Korea."
In order to launch the Green Pioneer Program by the first half of 2011, Korea Eximbank will establish terms and regulations for financing green power plant projects after consultations with the government and expand the relevant department and human resources to provide development & advisory services.
