A delegation from South Korea, led by the South Korean Small and Medium Business Administration (SBC), visited Israel in late October 2015. The delegation included Mr. Chae-Un Lim, Chairman of SBC; Mr. Nae-Kwon Jo, Director of the International Relations Department; and Mr. Seung-Yoon Lee, Deputy Manager of the International Relations Department. Several reporters and journalists also joined to cover the delegation's visit.

The purpose of the visit was twofold: to learn about Israel's advanced startups and technology ecosystem, and to facilitate official relationships with relevant business and government bodies to support economic and trade ties between the two countries.

KOISRA was selected by SBC to arrange key logistics and meetings for the visiting delegation in order to maximize the impact of their trip, leverage KOISRA’s connections across Israel’s economic landscape, and facilitate strong partnerships between South Korean and Israeli businesses.

A highlight of the trip was the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between SBC and the Federation of Israeli Chambers of Commerce (FICC) on October 25. Mr. Arie Zeif, Vice President of FICC, signed the agreement with Mr. Chae-Un Lim, Chairman of SBC.

The Memorandum of Understanding established concrete commitments between the SBC and FICC to boost Korea-Israel economic ties. This included agreeing to create business communication channels, facilitate networking through introductions and events, provide customized market entry support services to Korean and Israeli companies, and collaborate to ease trade and investment barriers. The overriding objective was taking strategic steps to expand bilateral commercial engagement.

Going forward following the signing of the MOU between SBC and FICC, KOISRA will continue in its comprehensive role as liaison by representing SBC’s ongoing interests in Israel and serving as the primary point of contact for continuing to cultivate B2B relationships.