The Korea Federation of SMEs (KBIZ) and the National Federation of Small Business Associations in Japan have recently come to an agreement to enhance exchanges between small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) in both countries. This agreement was reached during a meeting held at the KBIZ headquarters in Yeouido, Seoul, with a delegation from Japan led by the association’s chairman Hiroshi Mori.
The meeting was a follow-up to KBIZ’s visit to its counterpart in Japan in October 2023, where both organizations recognized the importance of economic cooperation between South Korea and Japan. They discussed various measures to strengthen private-sector exchanges, including expanding exchanges between SME associations and sharing common policies and issues faced by SMEs in both countries.
During their visit, the Japanese delegation also toured Home & Shopping, a facility established to support SMEs, to assess the competitiveness of excellent SME products. KBIZ Chairman Kim Ki-moon highlighted the complementary strengths of Korea in information and communication technology (ICT) and Japan in core technologies, emphasizing the need for active mutual exchanges to achieve tangible results.
Chairman Mori expressed his pleasure at visiting Korea to discuss detailed cooperation and stressed the importance of frequent meetings between the two organizations representing SMEs in Korea and Japan. Both parties agreed to work towards concrete exchanges and the dissemination of outcomes through a memorandum of understanding.
Overall, the agreement between KBIZ and the National Federation of Small Business Associations in Japan signifies a step towards closer collaboration and cooperation between SMEs in South Korea and Japan, with the aim of mutual benefit and shared success.