The Korea Trade-Investment Authority (KOTRA) announced that it secured contracts worth $54.37m at Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2025. MWC is one of the largest industry conferences for the mobile communications industry in the world and took place March 3 – 6 in Barcelona, last week.
The Korean investment promotion agency (IPA) said their pavilion attracted 4,212 buyers and conducted 680 consultations worth $103.68m. Out of the 2,700 companies that participated in the conference, 192 were Korean. Five memorandums of understanding were signed between Korean firms and international companies.
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“MWC has established itself as a platform where our Information and Communication Technology (ICT) companies can showcase their enhanced technological capabilities to the world following the Consumer Electronics Show in the US in January,” KOTRA President Kang Kyung-sung said.
Kyung-sung took office as CEO and President of KOTRA last November and has been focused on diversifying Korean exporters’ access to foreign markets amid an uncertain global landscape. In pursuit of this goal, the agency is set to open two offices this year in Monterrey, Mexico and Tbilisi, Georgia.
“It is crucial to make efforts to diversify the market, as nearly 70% of Korea’s exports have relied on China, North America, Southeast Asia and the European Union,” Kyung-sung said. KOTRA’s annual budget is set to increase to $520m by 2027, allowing it to grow its workforce from 1,838 to 1,900, and its overseas offices from 129 to 140.
The IPA moved its regional headquarters to Washington DC from New York earlier this year in order to have a better response time for abrupt policy changes coming out of the White House.
“It is even difficult for conglomerates to analyse potential impacts of US policies on their businesses amid the deluge of information written in English,” Kyung-sung said.
