When Rajasthan chief minister Bhajan Lal Sharma lands at the Incheon international airport in Seoul, South Korea on September 9, 2024, he will be a great opportunity to rekindle the interest of Korean for the proposed dedicated Korean Zone at Ghilot industrial area.
The 300-acre Korean zone conceived in 2013 and later was junked as no Korean company showed interest.
As part of promotion of Rising Rajasthan, global investors summit to be held from 9-11 December 2024, chief minister Bhajan Lal Sharma, his additional chief secretary Shikhar Agarwal and principal secretary industries Ajitabh Sharma along with other senior officers, will hold investor road shows and meetings with prominent industrialists and corporates in the capital Seoul.
“We have success stories of two dedicated Japanese Zones in Rajasthan, which is the first state to have a country specific zone. Currently more than 50 Japanese companies are operating from the dedicated zones with great ease investing around Rs 7,000 crore in total,” said a senior official.
Japanese zone is the main pitch for Korean companies
He said that the state government will pitch for attracting investment from Korean companies by citing success stories of Japanese companies in Rajasthan.
“We are one of the best hosts in the world. Japanese zone at Neemrana looks like a mini Japan. Not only authentic Japanese cuisines, but also hotels and grocery shops in Japanese set up are available in the zone making life easier for visiting Japanese,” the official said.
Rajasthan government's industrial land development agency RIICO had signed an MoU with South Korean Trade Promotion Agency (Kotra) in March 2013 to set up the country-specific zone Ghilot on the lines of Japanese zone.
“Nothing moved from there and after several meetings with Kotra, the proposal died a slow death,” the official said.
On the platform of Rising Rajasthan and proactive political leadership, the state government expects to revive the business ties with Korean companies.
“We are eyeing companies in the fields of infrastructure, automobiles, chemicals, electronics and food processing. We expect good traction from top notch companies,” the official said.
Prakash Bhandari is a veteran journalist with over 50 years of experience. He has worked with The Times of India for 30 years and contributed to leading publications as well as international news agency AFP.
