News
Businessmen from Spain and other countries seek investment in DPRK
Jan
Entrepreneurs Spain and six other countries will visit North Korea in mid-February to study investment opportunities, confirmed Alejandro Cao de Benos today, president of the Korean Friendship Association (KFA).
The trip, organized by the KFA, take a few days to North Korean territory to seven entrepreneurs Spain, UK, Italy, Australia, Taiwan and Thailand, who will meet with officials of the communist state and explore investment opportunities in various sectors of this hermetic country.
Of these, “the main sector is mining, particularly gold,” said Cao de Benos, who in addition to chairing the said association plays in the regime of Kim Jong-un the post of special representative of North Korea will Committee Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries.
North Korea also seeks investments in other mineral resources such as titanium, as well as in the banking sector for the development of mining and other industries, producing “carbon engines” local development or medicinal plants, among others.
Cao de Benos, who is primarily responsible for managing the tour, explained that entrepreneurs who wish to invest in North Korea can join one of the two annual general group travel or request an individual visit “depending on demand” she said.
For foreigners interested in investing their capital in North Korea, local law requires a minimum investment of EUR 1 million in the case of natural resources, up to 33,000 euros in the case of bank shares or 20,000 euros in ginseng and other medicinal plants .
North Korea, a country characterized by strong economic isolation under a socialist system based on self-reliance, has offered some signs of openness to the business abroad since the coming to power of Kim Jong-un in December 2011.
In 2013, the year he increased the pressure of international sanctions on the country over its nuclear and missile tests, Pyongyang agreed to extend China’s special economic zones that both maintained and cleared the way for the reopening of a rail route to Russia for freight.
