Korea will intensify its efforts to nurture more small and mid-sized exporting companies to help the nation’s annual trade volume exceed $2 trillion by 2020, the Commerce Ministry said Friday.

Korea’s trade volume topped $1 trillion in early December for the first time in its history, making the country the world’s ninth to have ever reached the $1-trillion mark in trade.

According to the ministry, the government plans to foster 20,000 more small and mid-sized exporters by 2020 through programs aimed at enhancing trading capacity of fledgling start-ups, and support companies whose businesses were centered on the domestic market in looking abroad.

To that end, the government will expand export subsidies, which will be used to provide more business consulting for companies. It will offer more support for their research and development efforts, the ministry said.

In addition, Seoul’s trade insurance support for small and mid-sized exporters will be increased to 50 trillion won ($44.7 billion) from the current 19 trillion won set aside last year.

The country also plans to make 50 trillion won available for exporters that are pushing for large-scale business projects. The number is up from the current 14 trillion won, according to the ministry. 

(Yonhap News)