North Korean trade-related organizations have been sounding out Chinese and Russian traders about their participation in the event, which is expected to be held in the first half of the year
North Korea’s Ministry of External Economic Relations recently ordered the country’s provinces to submit plans for an international trade exposition in Rason, a source in North Hamgyong Province told Daily NK last Thursday.
According to the source, North Hamgyong Province — which surrounds the special city of Rason — ordered trading companies and special economic management agencies under the people’s committees of Rason and the provincial capital of Chongjin to quickly submit their plans for the Rason International Trade Exhibition.
Prior to this, the Ministry of External Economic Relations had told provinces that it would hold a product exhibition in Rason in the first quarter of this year, ordering them to submit draft proposals for two types of exhibitions: an exhibition featuring just domestic companies, and an exhibition featuring domestic and international companies.
North Korea had hosted the Rason International Trade Exhibition every August since 2011 up until the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
That North Korea is planning to hold the Rason International Trade Exhibition in the first half of this year suggests the country is actively moving to attract foreign investment.
North Korean authorities have reportedly stressed that officials closely monitor the impact of various factors on the holding of the exhibition, including China’s COVID-19 outbreak, with a view to ensure that national interests are met.
They also called for the door to be left open for firms from Russia, which is currently engaged in a war in Ukraine, to participate in a way that allows North Korea to reap practical benefits, again emphasizing that such participation should meet national interests.
In response to this push by the government to hold the expo, North Korean trade-related organizations have been sounding out Chinese and Russian traders about their participation in the event.
“The Ministry of External Economic Relations said that if a variety of foreign companies participate, we can hold an international trade fair in a broader, more beneficial way, but if we go with an expo featuring just domestic products, the venue could be changed to Chongjin,” the source told Daily NK.
Once the ministry approves the plans submitted by the country’s provinces, a preparation committee will be organized to immediately prepare for the expo, he continued.
“For now, it seems the ministry will approve plans requiring lots of preparation time as it’s more likely it will host an international trade exhibit in Rason,” he added.
As far as domestic companies are concerned, only companies with products registered with government recognized certificates like patents or invention certificates will be allowed at the exhibition, the source said.
The government also said that if a company wants to display an unregistered product, it must first receive a temporary patent or invention certificate from the General Bureau of Inventions, he added.
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