The Export-Import Bank of Korea (www.koreaexim.go.kr, Chairman Lee Duk-Hoon, “Korea Eximbank”) announced that it held a “Workshop to Support the Entry of SMEs and Medium-Large Companies into the EDCF* Project Market and the International Procurement Market” at the Korea Federation of Small and Medium Business headquarters on May 29.

* The Economic Development Cooperation Fund (EDCF) was established by the Korean government in 1987 to promote economic exchanges with the developing world and to assist developing countries in achieving industrialization and economic stability through the provision of long-term, low-interest credit. Korea Eximbank currently manages the fund as its trustee. As of the end of 2013, EDCF has supported 310 projects in 54 countries with KRW 10.1 trillion.

The workshop, attended by 130 delegates from some 80 companies, was arranged in order to provide practical training on how to prepare bidding documents, introduce the assistance programs offered by each of the host institutions, and share their contract-winning know-how with Korean SMEs and medium-large companies looking for opportunities in the international procurement market.

Participants found particularly helpful a presentation by Director Seo Jung-hwa of the EDCF Operations Services & Evaluations Department on the nuts and bolts of bidding for EDCF feasibility study, consulting, and procurement contracts.

The workshop also featured a presentation by former Resident Representative of Asian Development Bank (ADB) in Timor-Leste Hamm Meeja (currently visiting professor at Graduate School of International Studies of Kyunghee Universitty) on how to win ADB project awards.

Korean small to medium-large firms are recently showing a high degree of interest in EDCF projects and in procurement contracts awarded by multilateral development banks (MDBs) such as ADB.

Accordingly, Korea Eximbank has been holding the “Workshop to Support the Entry of SMEs and Medium-Large Companies into the EDCF* Project Market and the International Procurement Market” every year since 2012.

The international procurement market, funded by international development agencies, is fully open to the member countries of those agencies, and has the dual advantage of offering participants steady long-term returns as well as access to emerging markets.

It is for this reason that smaller construction firms in Korea, affected by the slumping domestic construction market, are turning to international procurement contracts awarded by key international development agencies such as ADB and the World Bank.

During the last five years, ADB awards amounted to USD 40 billiion in total, of which Korean companies secured USD 2.4 billion.

A Korea Eximbank official explained that “participation in EDCF-funded projects is the most effective way for Korean companies to enter the international procurement market, not only because it helps them meet the track record qualifications demanded by international development agencies, but also because the bidding process is essentially the same as in projects led by international development agencies."