3 Korean firms ink deals with local partners

Three Korean firms have forged agreements with local companies to solidify their partnerships in environment- and energy-related projects in the Philippines.

In a statement, the Department of Trade and Industry said Korean LED light manufacturer Samjin LND Co. Ltd. signed a memorandum of agreement with local firm Dazzling Lites Enterprises. This formed part of a bigger agreement with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) for the agency’s “1 Led Tube, 1 Tree Planting and Growing Program for Climate Change Solution,” better known as the “1 Led Tube, 1 Tree” campaign.

Korea District Heating Corp. also signed an agreement with Metro Clark Waste Management Corp. to use household waste materials and biomass residual fuel in a power plant that is being constructed in Clark ecozone.

ENESG Co. Ltd., a Korean company that provides power plant diagnostic technology, signed a separate agreement with Cynergie Power Systems and Automation International to improve the performance of aging power plants in the Asean, including the Philippines.

The three agreements were signed at the recently held 1st Korea-Asean Grand Project Partnership Forum, which was attended by 72 Korean businessmen, 46 Philippine senior officials, and about 200 other participants from Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines.

Also held were 250 one-on-one business meetings participated by  31 Korean companies, 60 Philippine organizations, and 22 Asean delegates.

“I am optimistic that this mission will bring the Asean-Korea relations to new heights and help the delegates (at the forum) to realize and invest in the full potential of our country,” Trade Undersecretary Ponciano C. Manalo Jr. said.

Manalo said the Asean and South Korea had long been trading partners. South Korea has maintained its position as the fifth largest trading partner of the Asean, while the Asean was the second largest trade partner of South Korea.

Foreign direct investments flow from South Korea to Asean also increased by 105.88 percent in 2013.