The South Korean Consul visits the Port of Tarragona

The South Korean delegation showed interest in learning about the competitive advantages of Tarragona’s port facilities

The president of the Tarragona Port Authority (TPA), Josep Maria Cruset, today welcomed the South Korean consul to Barcelona, Mr Taewan Huh, and the vice-consul, Mr Jun Ho Choi. The visit was part of a promotional project organised by Acció, the Public Agency for the Competitiveness of Catalan Business, part of the Catalan Government’s Ministry for Business and Knowledge.

The purpose of the meeting was to present the Port of Tarragona and the Camp de Tarragona region as an area of interest for investment by South Korean business. The meeting was part of a series of visits around Catalonia by diplomatic representatives from the Republic of Korea to learn first-hand about the country’s economic ecosystem. Mr Taewan Huh, the South Korean consul, was particularly interested in the Port of Tarragona’s activities in the chemical and petrochemical sectors.

The TPA president and the Port’s marketing director, Genoveva Climent, gave a presentation covering the different facilities and installations, the main cargo statistics and the Port’s strategic projects to the South Korean delegation and the representatives of Acció, Mar Farrés, Head of the External Partners Programme; Mireia López, Head of Promotion with direct responsibility for the South Korean market at Catalonia Trade & Investment; and Montse Casas, Institutional Relations Manager.

The second part of the visit consisted of a boat tour of the port facilities. The South Korean diplomatic representatives were able to see at first hand the various wharfs in the Port of Tarragona, as well as their facilities and the different cargos that are loaded and unloaded on them.

Attracting investment

One of Acció’s missions is to attract foreign investment. In 2018, the Catalan government agency was responsible for 84 projects that mobilised more than 322 million euros and contributed to the creation of 5,455 new jobs, as well as the maintenance of 1,269 more. The South Korean economy is the eleventh largest in the world, with a GDP of $29,742,84 (2017) and a growth of 1.1% in the first quarter of 2019.

The Port of Tarragona is one of the six most important ports in Spain in terms of cargo traffic volume. In 2018 it handled a total of 32 million of tons. The Port is committed to diversifying its trade by attracting new types of cargo and the strategic repositioning of the more traditional cargos where there are opportunities for growth.