- Holding the First Private-Public Partnership Marine and Fisheries Exports Promotion Planning Group Meeting -

 The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries (Minister CHO Seung Hwan) is pleased to announce that the First Private-Public Partnership Marine and Fisheries Exports Promotion Planning Group Meeting will be held at the Main Conference Room of Building 5 in the Sejong Government Complex on March 24th (Friday) at 10:00.

 The Marine and Fisheries Exports Promotion Planning Group is a council established in February with the aim of reviewing potential sources of foreign currency earnings and the status of exports in all areas of marine and fisheries, including exports in shipping services, seafood, and marine mobility, as well as overseas port construction orders and attracting tourists on cruise ships, to explore options to increase exports in each sector. Vice Minister Song Sang Geun of Oceans and Fisheries will lead the planning group, with the participation of government office representatives and private sector experts in five sectors.

 Recent export conditions in the marine and fisheries sector have deteriorated compared to 2022 due to increased instability in the global financial market, depressed consumption in major economies, and reduced shipping fares worldwide. Korea continues to face challenges as export-import container volume in local ports has dropped by 4.9% year on year as of February, with seafood exports decreasing by 8.5%.

 With the aim of overcoming these challenges, the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries has been working to strengthen public-private partnerships by resolving business challenges and expanding public-private overseas marketing. While establishing plans to provide support for the export logistics crisis of the finished car sector of Korea in January and Minister Cho Seung Hwan visiting the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Iraq in person to promote expand overseas port construction orders more recently, the Ministry has been working to further site-centric marketing efforts.

 The upcoming meeting will review support activities taken to date to resolve business difficulties, diagnose future export conditions for each sector, and discuss plans to expand into overseas markets.

 In particular, the meeting will cover not only the plans for shipping services and seafood exports but also additional ideas to diversify exports in the marine and fisheries sector, including plans to attract more tourists on cruise ships in line with the reopening of the cruise ship sector after a three-year hiatus, as well as discussing plans to strengthen efforts to enter the eco-friendly ship market following the increased regulation of the global shipping sector.