Kotra

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This article is about Korean trade promotion organization. For other uses, see Kotra (disambiguation).

In Korea, KOTRA (Korea Trade Promotion Corporation initially, Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency since 1995) was established in 1962 as a national trade promotion organization. Since then, it has facilitated Korea's rapid export-led economic development through various trade promotion activities such as overseas market surveys and business matchmaking. In August 1995, cross-border investment promotion and support for technological and industrial cooperation projects was added to KOTRA's mandate, and it was renamed to Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency.

KOTRA currently operates Invest KOREA, the national investment promotion agency. Originally initiated as the Korea Investment Service Center (KISC) in 1998, the agency was relaunched as Invest KOREA in November 2003 to support foreign investors with an expanded range of services.

KOTRA now pursues its twin mandates of trade and investment promotion to enhance national prosperity and competitiveness, with the goal of positioning Korea as the business and economic hub of East Asia. With its experience and expertise, KOTRA assists interested parties worldwide to do business with Korea.

In order to execute its mandates efficiently, KOTRA has opened an extensive worldwide network of overseas Korea Trade Centers (KTC). As of 2007, 93 KTCs are operating in 68 countries.

To take advantage of the era of E-Commerce, KOTRA launched the interactive internet portal sites of Invest KOREA Online (formerly Cyber KISC) in 2003 and BuyKorea in 2004.

KOTRA Academy was launched in 2003 as a professional learning center for international business. It is intended that KOTRA's trade and investment manpower will bolster the nation's trade and investment infrastructure.

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