Importing Backbone
for Re-exporting

KOIMA chairman tries to overcome its negative image

The Korea Importers Association (KOIMA) is Korea's only private organization with about 7,000 members which deals primarily with bringing imports into Korea. KOIMA members handle about 83% of Korea's total import volume and represent over 54,000 overseas suppliers and manufacturers from over 100 countries.
"For a nation which attaches top priority over exports, importers are branded as "those who steal away national wealth,"but to say the least, about 60 percent of the nation's total imports comprise raw materials or production machineries related to exporting abroad,"KOIMA Chairman Kim Wan-hee said. Eliminating the public misunderstanding and the traditional wisdom over the negative image, KOIMA Chairman Kim summed up the roles of importers, saying, "Exports cannot be achieved without imports and imports are the mother of exports."Kim, who has served as the CEO of a parts and machinery importing company for over 20 years, took the helm of KOIMA early this year.
Kim himself has been spearheading people-to people exchanges.
He was awarded an honorary consul of Ghana by the Ghanaian government last year when he was serving as the chief of the chairmen of the 37 committees.
Since his inauguration as the KOIMA chairman this past March, he has met with such foreign high-ranking delegates as the Malaysian deputy prime minister and the Austrian presidential delegation to discuss ways of expanding trade. Some time ago, the KOIMA chairman Kim accompanied President Roh Moo-hyun on a trip to the Middle Eastern region to give a briefing on the Korean importing market.
One of KOIMA's major goals is to promote balanced world trade.
"The importing industry have changed much in the recent years, compared to before,"Kim said. In the past, importers remained a kind of agents set up by foreign manufacturers, but they have raised their standing to the extent that they are responsible for providing technological services and after-sale services.
Importers need to come to terms with changes of the business field to make their operation successful, said Kim,
adding that they should brace for upheavals of the trade environment following the historic signing of a Free Trade Agreement between Korea and the United States. In this regard, the KOIMA chairman has urged importers to show solidarity.
The reality is that only half of the importing companies running across the nation are members of KOIMA. The lower membership is due to membership fees, but it is almost impossible for each importer to secure useful information on its own. However, KOIMA has 39 committees classified according to specific fields, which each share information among members.
KOIMA offers diverse support activities, including the hosting of forums designed to provide information with the CEOS of member companies and the annual CEO seminar with foreign diplomats stationed in Korea. The association runs an Internet broadcasting network and the monthly web magazine, "Import"as part of efforts to provide such information as data on the statue of the importing business sector,
prices of raw materials and after-sale information on imports.
As the nation is facing with a chronic youth unemployment, which is on the rise every year, KOIMA is operating a manpower bank designed to arrange for such jobs as trade, business, management and secretary free of charge as well as a program designed to allow member companies to place free advertisements seeking to recruit new employees and arrange for job-seekers to find jobs. KOIMA also offer trading on-the-job training courses for cultivating gifted trade specialists and holds explanation sessions on such areas as trade and taxes.
KOIMA sends joint civilian-government trade missions four to five times per annum while its delegates accompany the Chief Executive on a official visit to foreign countries to give a briefing on the domestic importing market. The association holds 50 to 60 import consultations with foreign missions in Korea annually while operating "KOIMA World Network"with 25 countries.
Organized by KOIMA, Imported Goods Fair,
marking the fifth one this year, is scheduled to be held at the Coex Pacific Hall in Samseong-dong, Seoul from May 29 through June 1. About 200 exhibitors from Korea and abroad are expected to participate in the fair, which will likely see a boom with a projection of more than 30 percent rise in terms of the number of exhibitors and spectators.
KOIMA conducts a variety of social contribution activities, including the donation of funds for helping the poor neighbors collected by in-house volunteering groups every year. A group of the wives of the CEOs of KOIMA member companies frequently visit orphanages and houses for the elderly to conduct volunteering activities. KOIMA has been joining in giving a helping hand to such victims of natural disasters as tsunami and the hurricane Katrina, while delivering scholarships to primary and secondary schools in the Yongsan-gu area.
Elaborating on the tasks KOIMA will implement in the years to come, KOIMA Chairman Kim said KOIMA is striving to ensure efficient importing and help Korea raise its voices during negotiation with foreign countries. He added that his association is trying to sold a raft of pending issues by drawing support from the government and do its best as civilian diplomats to maximize national interest.

Trico International CEO takes the helm at KOIMA
Kim Wan-hee, CEO of Trico International Ltd., was elected as the 17th term chairman of the Korea Importers Association (KOIMA) during KOIMA's annual meeting held at the Westin Chosun Hotel in downtown Seoul on Feb. 26.
Kim's election came during the 37th KOIMA Annual Meeting in which about prominent figures and representatives of KOIMA member companies, participated. Those in attendance included Oh Jung-kyu, director general of trade & investment promotion at the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy, Kang Shin-ho, chairman of the Federation of Korean Industries, Sohn Kyung-shik, chairman of KCCI, Lee Hee-beom, chairman of KITA.
In the meantime, in his inaugural message, new KOIMA Chairman Kim said his association will steer business tasks the way member companies of each industrial field can adapt to a new trade environment following the conclusion of the Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement (KORUS FTA). nw

KOIMA Chairman Kim Wan-hee meets with the Indian ambassador to Korea on April 27.

CEOs of KOIMA member companies pose with Kim Jong-hoon, the chief delegate of FTA negotiations between Korea and the United States, who spoke in a forum organized by KOIMA on May 8.

KOIMA Chairman Kim shakes hands with the visiting Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister-Defense Minister Najib bin Tun Haji Rajak at Grand Hilton Hotel on March 13.

Elizabeth M. Oh, NewsWorld president-publisher, is flanked by KITA Chairman Lee Hee-beom and KOIMA Chairman Kim Wan-hee.

KOIMA Chairman Kim Wan-hee is inaugurated as the 17th chairman of KOIMA at Grand InterContinental Hotel on March 5.