The U.S. office of the Korea Council of Governors and the Americas and Europe regional headquarters of the Korea SMEs and Startups Agency (KOSME) signed a memorandum of understanding on Thursday, Nov. 12, at KOSME's Global Business Center in New York to help small and midsize ventures from Korean regions enter the U.S. market. It is the first MOU a Council of Governors overseas office has signed with a Korean public agency abroad, and the two organizations plan to launch joint cooperation projects starting in 2027.
The U.S. office of the Korea Council of Governors (Director Kim In-su) and the Americas and Europe regional headquarters of the Korea SMEs and Startups Agency (KOSME) (Director Park Dae-il) have agreed to jointly help small and midsize ventures from Korean regions enter the U.S. market. According to the Consulate General of the Republic of Korea in New York, the two organizations signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on Thursday, Nov. 12, at KOSME's Global Business Center (GBC) in New York to support promising regional small and midsize ventures in entering the U.S. market and expanding exports.
The agreement is intended to launch concrete cooperation projects that help regional small businesses expand overseas. It is the first MOU a Council of Governors overseas office has signed with a Korean public agency abroad.
At a Glance
Matching Sessions and Pop-Up Stores to Be Held Jointly
The two organizations agreed to support regional small and midsize ventures' entry into the U.S. by linking the Council of Governors' nationwide network of cities and provinces with KOSME's export support capabilities and overseas bases. The agreement covers four main areas of cooperation. They will identify promising small and midsize ventures in the provinces and help them enter the U.S. market, and carry out joint projects such as business matching sessions and pop-up stores in promising consumer goods sectors, including beauty, fashion, lifestyle and food. They will also promote each other's support programs and cooperate on participation, and designate working-level contacts to discuss joint projects.
The two organizations have been in talks since July. They pursued the agreement to develop support that had centered on individual events by each city and province into regular cooperation.
Consulate General: "We will support this as a K-Initiative project"
Kim In-su, director of the Council of Governors' U.S. office, and Park Dae-il, head of KOSME's Americas and Europe regional headquarters, attended the ceremony and signed the agreement. Park Il-cheol, commercial counselor, who attended on behalf of Consul General Kim Sang-ho, said in his congratulatory remarks, "Taking the agreement between the Council of Governors' U.S. office and KOSME's Americas and Europe regional headquarters as an opportunity, our consulate will designate this project as one of its key K-Initiative tasks and spare no support to help competitive companies based in Korea's regions enter the Americas market."
Director Kim In-su said, "This agreement is a meaningful case of Korean local governments and a national public agency cooperating for the first time in New York, and we will prepare carefully so that tangible results can follow." Park Dae-il, head of the Americas and Europe regional headquarters, said, "We will work to ensure that the cooperation between our two organizations leads to local market entry in the U.S. and export results for outstanding regional small and midsize ventures."
Joint Projects From 2027
After the signing, the heads of the two organizations exchanged views on the direction of the joint cooperation projects. They agreed to decide specific project details and schedules through working-level consultations. Based on this agreement, the two organizations plan to carry out joint cooperation projects starting in 2027. To that end, they will designate working-level contacts and decide on the details, schedule and budget of the joint projects through consultations.