Daejeon Metropolitan City Teaming up with MOCIE and KOTRA for Overseas IRs Daejeon Metropolitan City is moving ahead with strong determination in the City's strategy regarding investment promotion and IT activation. In the light of its investment environment, Daejeon Metropolitan City is convenient in terms of location than another city or province. However, it is true that Daejeon is in a disadvantageous position in that the city is inconvenient in terms of airport access in comparison with Seoul or Gyeonggi Province and furthermore it remains far from the Seoul Metropolitan area, the hub of politics, administration and finance. Daejeon Metropolitan City's officials involved in its investment activity admit: "It is true that there have been many difficulties for Daejeon to lure foreign enterprises because factory land price is more expensive than domestic metropolitan provinces, to say nothing of the fact that Daejeon can't compete with cities in Southeast Asia, including China, since factory land prices are high." Taskforce operation plus one-stop service With priority given to investment attraction activity unfolding with cutting-edge technology possession enterprises as its priority object, these officials said: "To lure foreign enterprises with high-degree technology such as the most cutting-edge IT, BT, NT etc. in an investment complex for foreigners, whose construction is under way within Daeduk Techno Valley, Daejeon Metropolitan City plans to unfold more aggressively investment attraction activity by mobilizing a variety of means like investment attraction briefings at home, dispatching investment delegations overseas, Agent utilization, Taskforce team composition, and One-Stop service offering etc, becoming conscious of Daejeon's handicaps mentioned above. As regarding such diverse means to mobilize for the purpose of investment attraction, domestic investment attraction briefing can be mentioned comprising an investment explanation meeting for foreign enterprises CEOs & executives as well as figures of foreign economic institutions at home, and diplomats of foreign embassies serving in Korea. With regard to overseas investment delegation dispatch, Daejeon City plans to dispatch investment attraction delegations to countries holding investment attraction possibilities as its object by teaming up with MOCIE (the Ministry of Commerce, Industry & Energy) as well as KOTRA. Mayor Park Seoung-hyo, Daejeon Metropolitan City added: "By serving foreigners in foreign companies, executives or staffs of foreign economic bodies in Korea, and institution or figures holding business bonds with foreign companies or economic bodies with agents when conducting investment attraction for our city, we plan to launch effective investment attraction activity." Bold investment incentives In conjunction with the strong investment attraction desire of Daejeon Metropolitan City, the Mayor said that Daejeon will Put in place systems to offer bold investment incentives by revising the city's investment support laws and regulations plus investment attraction publicity to foreign embassies in Seoul, foreign economic bodies in Korea, KOTRA overseas networks and Korean embassies abroad. In particular, he explained: "Daejeon Metropolitan City will do its best to forge a supporting system which will alleviate any difficulties for investment by teaming up with associated bodies like Daeduk Special Zone Support Headquarters, KOTRA, Daeduk Techno Valley etc. plus providing One-Stop service which supports the entire process of investment from business consideration stage to business commencement." Mayor Park has committed himself to doing his utmost to ensure that Daejeon Metropolitan City can expand employment opportunities for local residents and boost the local economy by attracting foreign blue chip companies. Especially, he said that Daejeon Metropolitan City plans to attract state-of-the-art research-based enterprises proactively by teaming up with Daeduk R&D Special Zone Support Headquarters, considering that Daejeon can take advantage of research capabilities of nationalpolicy laboratories clustered together in Daeduk research complex. Because this investment alternative location for foreigners is located within Daeduk R&D Special Zone the government promotes commercialization of research performance of Daeduk research complex. Foreign investment complex designation Regarding past promotion content, the Mayor explained that Daejeon City has been pursuing policies with priority given to large-sized SOC (Social Overhead Capital) facilities like Daejeon City Railway as well as Daejeon riverside city highway. Daejeon City has succeeded in luring private capital of 297.3 billion won (around $310 million) in a total of seven sectors such as vehicle purchase, unmanned fare aggregation and operation system construction of Daejeon City Railway No.1 line, thereby contributing greatly to allow the No.1 line to be operated successfully at the moment. In addition, Park mentioned that by attracting foreign capital as well as private capital of 167.5 billion won (around $176 million) for the first stage of its riverside city highway project, the City was opened to traffic since 2004, allowing at the same time to be opened smoothly to traffic flows into Daeduk Techno Valley under way at present. With regard to investment complex's progress to date for foreigners, Park said that at the year-end, foreigner investment complex preparation construction of around 46,000 pyeong (about 151,000m2) would be completed. To break through difficult investment environment of Daejeon City, this foreigner investment complex has been commencing the complex preparation construction since April last year, working out its development plan within Daeduk Techno Valley industry complex in past 2001. As a result that the City has been devoting efforts for foreigner investment attraction since long time ago, Daejeon Metropolitan City has concluded an MOU (memorandum of understanding) with Japan's two cutting-edge IT corporations in early 2004. On Aug. 1, this year too, Daejeon Metropolitan City has agreed MOU with the two U.S. corporations INEXIM and Playfield concerning building factories to manufacture the most cutting-edge organic chemistry textiles by investing a total of $14 million in Daeduk Techno Valley foreigner investment complex. With this MOU as an impetus, Park said that Daeduk Techno Valley foreigner investment region designation is expected to be accelerated, adding that the City plans to apply for foreigner investment region designation to MOCIE (the Ministry of Commerce, Industry & Energy) by adding around 2~3 foreigner investment MOUs during the course of the second half this year. It is said that foreign companies that has investment consultation under way with Daejeon Metropolitan City, are five companies including Germany's auto parts company B company and Japan's chemistry product manufacturer M company. In case that these foreign companies' investment attraction MOU will be successful, Daeduk Techno Valley foreigner investment complex's designation will be concreted, Park concluded.