The Export-Import Bank of Korea announced on July 9 that it will hold a working-level training workshop for Korean SMEs seeking to participate in Official Development Assistance (ODA) projects and projects sponsored by international organizations.

Korean SMEs in IT, medical, and education sectors have leading expertise and advanced technologies in equipment manufacturing and system development and operation.

Despite such strengths, however, many SMEs find it difficult to secure procurement contracts with international organizations such as the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) due to insufficient working-level knowledge in tasks such as bidding document preparation.

To address this issue, Korea Eximbank decided to better enable SMEs for participation in projects of EDCF and international institutions through the training workshop.

The workshop will cover practical applications and case analysis such as project feasibility, consulting, and procurement bid document preparation.

The workshop will be led by EDCF experts within Korea Eximbank who directly oversee purchasing and contracting operations for EDCF projects.

The 2-hour workshops will be held every Tuesday from July 10 through August 7.

SMEs seeking to participate in the workshops may register with the National IT Industry Promotion Agency, Korea Construction Consulting Engineers Association, Korea Civil engineering Consultants Association, Korea Engineering & Consulting Association, or through Korea Eximbank’s website.

A representative of the Bank commented, “Through this workshop, we hope SMEs will gain the necessary know-how to more effectively participate in government sponsored projects of developing countries and gain a greater foothold in international procurement markets.