Inauguration of Ubiquitous
Trade Hub Infrastructure Held

Firms can process trade-related operations via the Internet anytime and anyplace

The Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy (MOCIE) and Korea International Trade Association (KITA) have jointly opened the uTradeHub, an on-line trade processing network where companies are able to process trade-related operations with the most economic and effective means via the Internet anytime and anyplace.
The inauguration was held at the Grand InterContinental Hotel in Samseong-dong, southern Seoul on May 9 to celebrate the opening of the uTradeHub. Those in attendance included MOCIE Minister Kim Young-ju, KITA Chairman Lee Hee-beom, Chairman of Korea Federation of Small and Medium Business Kim Ki-mun, KTNET President Shin Dong-sik, Samsung SDS CEO Kim In and Kim Chang-soo, vice chairman of the Korean Federation of Banks.
In his speech, MOCIE Minister Kim said the government will work to create a consumer-oriented integrated e-Trade network to meet the interests of trading companies. To reach this lofty goal, he said, first of all, trade-related institutions have to collaborate in an organic manner, and trading companies will have to strengthen competitiveness by making the most of e-Trade infrastructure and saving trade-related costs where possible.
The uTradeHub means the latest on-line trade system in which trading companies can handle all trade affairs ranging from marketing to foreign currency, commerce, customs clearance, logistics and settlement, said Hong Suk-woo, director general of the Trade & Investment Promotion Office at MOCIE.
Chung Soon-nam, director of the Trade Policy Division at MOCIE, said, "Particularly, e-Commerce trade transactions are expected to surge as tariffs are eliminated as a result of the Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement and barriers between external trade and domestic demand are removed following the spread of the Internet."It would boost Korean trading companies'competitive edge by conducting trade transactions by the most economic and effective means via the Internet anytime and anyplace, he added.
An amendment to the Act on the Promotion of e-Trade, made in 2005, calls for recognizing the authenticity of e-Documents. The government has been carrying out a project to establish an e-Document depository since 2004 as part of its efforts to build up an e-Trade infrastructure. Korea has spent 8.2 billion won - 7.2 billion won from national coffers and 1 billion won from the private sector - to build e-Trade platforms and to provide momentum for the spread of e-Trade. Korea will earmark 15 billion won - 8 billion won from national coffers and 7 billion won from the private sector - to redesign trade procedures under the third e-Trade serve buildup project. The government plans to offer in the near future a system in which trading institutions can handle one-stop "Nego"services through the uTradeHub without visiting related institutions and banks, MOCIE officials said.
Large companies have their in-house systems outfitted with e-Commerce solutions, while smaller firms utilize the uTradeHub by accessing the homepage (www.utradehub.or.
kr). By connecting to the e-Document depository with such related institutions as banks, insurance companies and KCCI, trading companies are able to deposit the first issued documents with the e-Document depository and retrieve them for submission to different institutions, so e-Trade transactions are done paperless.
The uTradeHub shows each stage of the trade work process - already done, undergoing and to be done- so that trade beginners can follow easily and understand trade work.
It features a characteristic that once information is put into the e-Trade system, trading companies can repeatedly utilize the information in other documents without having to repeat the entries.
The latest e-Trade system will bring about 1.8 trillion won in economic benefits per annum to trading companies, fraught with high-wages and high logistics costs, thus helping they raise their competitive edge in an era of tough competition where every advantage is helpful.
It could serve as an opportunity to develop Korea into an e-Trade hub of Northeast Asia as Korea, one of the world's ICT powerhouses while taking a leading role in e-Trade ahead of China and Japan, they said. The National e-Trade Committee, headed by the prime minister, was established in July 2003.
The government has chosen e-Trade services as one of 31 e-Government tasks. The Business Process Reengineering/Information Strategy Planning, adopted in December 2003, has set a vision, four strategies and 33 sub-tasks. The e-Trade Korea 2007 was reported to the National e-Trade Committee in September 2004, while e-Trade projects were inaugurated in December 2004. nw

MOCIE Minister Kim Young-ju, KITA Chairman Lee Hee-beom and Chairman of Korea Federation of Small and Medium Business Kim Ki-mun join others in inaugurating the uTradeHub, an on-line trade processing network.