Jeju Special Self-Governing Province, despite challenging economic conditions, held a consultation meeting between local companies and public agencies on May 3 to explore opportunities for local businesses.
This meeting, where Jeju technology development product manufacturing companies and representatives from public agencies gathered, is the only national consultation meeting where products are sold and purchased. The event began with a training session for civil servants on the technology development product pilot purchase system at 10:30 a.m. on the 4th floor of the Main Building of the Provincial Office. Subsequently, one-on-one consultation meetings between participating companies and public demand representatives were conducted from 1 p.m. onwards.
This consultation meeting provides an opportunity for public agency representatives to directly inspect products and technologies developed by Jeju companies and to sign purchase contracts on-site. This enables small and medium-sized enterprises in Jeju to expand their sales channels while allowing public agencies to procure high-quality products in one place.
Thirty-eight local and external technology development product manufacturers participated in this event, including those involved in pilot purchases and cooperative products for mutual growth. Fifty-two procurement officers from a total of 52 public agencies, including the Jeju Provincial Government, administrative cities, local public enterprises, invested agencies, and national public agencies, attended as buyers.
The scale of participation this year increased from 29 participating companies and 40 demand agencies last year to 38 companies and 52 agencies. In particular, the number of local public enterprises, invested agencies, and national public agencies increased significantly from 7 last year to 21 this year.
During the consultation, procurement officers conducted one-on-one consultations with company representatives according to a predetermined schedule, referring to product description materials provided by participating companies and conducting additional consultations on-site.
On that day, Kim Gyeong-tak, the representative of Eco Powertech Co., Ltd., who participated in the consultation meeting, stated, “It has not been easy for local companies to individually promote products to public agencies, but this consultation meeting provided a great opportunity for small and medium-sized enterprises and public agencies to gather in one place.” He further expressed, “I hope that the participation in this consultation meeting will lead to increased sales, especially for products ordered by agencies such as the Water Resources Headquarters and the ICC, as we have sufficiently promoted products ordered by organizations such as the Water Resources Headquarters and the ICC.”
Yang Geun-won, Deputy Director of Jeju Development Corporation, commented, “Although products manufactured by local small and medium-sized enterprises are being shared, there haven’t been many opportunities to directly see or understand the products.” He added, “I thoroughly inspected safety-related products during the consultation and plan to actively consider purchasing them.”
Additionally, on-site consultation meetings included a special corner providing information that companies and civil servants needed to know.
At the Jeju Economic Promotion Institute-operated e-Jeju Shop, consultations were held regarding the priority purchase of products targeted by the Jeju Provincial Government’s policies. The Jeju Local Procurement Office actively promoted procurement market entry support programs through ‘Public Procurement Guides’ for companies having difficulty entering public procurement. Furthermore, the Small and Medium Venture Business Department’s Public Procurement Support Public Agencies, including the Small and Medium Enterprise Distribution Center, conducted consultations on public procurement systems for participating companies and demand agencies.
Governor Oh Young-hoon attended the consultation meeting that day, inspected products made by local small and medium-sized enterprises, and encouraged participants. He expressed his hope that high-quality products and technologies produced by local companies would be sold to many public agencies, leading to tangible income growth.
Source: News Jeju, published May 7, 2024
https://www.newsjeju.net/news/articleView.html?idxno=401303