Building globally competitive small and medium enterprises is key to pushing up South Korea’s trade volume to the next level, the new head of the country’s export promotion agency said Monday.

Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency President Oh Young-ho said that in order for Seoul to double its annual export volume from $1 trillion reached this month, the capabilities of its SMEs must be enhanced.

South Korea’s annual trade volume exceeded the landmark $1 trillion mark for the first time in its history, making the country the ninth in the world to achieve the feat, the government said.

“Reaching the $2 trillion mark is only possible if the country has top notch medium-sized companies capable of competing on a global scale,” he said.

He added that local companies must make more inroads into newly emerging economies, enter eco-friendly green technology sectors and get better prices for the products they make.

Oh, a career bureaucrat, entered the government in 1980 and was vice commerce minister in 2007-2008 before being named to the executive vice chairman post at the Korea International Trade Association in 2009. He takes over from Hong Suk-woo, who was tapped as the knowledge economy minister last month. 

(Yonhap News)