“India + 8 ASEAN Countries Investment” Report Released
Four Core Policy Tasks for the “K-AI Package” Proposed
As mounting protectionism and growing economic bloc formation among major countries are increasing risks to global supply chains, there is a recommendation that, to expand entry into emerging markets for Korea’s strategic industries, it is necessary to implement a diversification strategy that links Official Development Assistance (ODA), private Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), and exports in a practical manner.
The Korea Economic Research Institute (KERI) under the Federation of Korean Industries stated in its report, “Strategies to Advance Trade and Investment in Strategic Industries in India and 8 ASEAN Countries,” that amid intensifying U.S. protectionism and more profound supply chain restructuring, emerging markets such as India, Vietnam, and Indonesia should be nurtured not just as simple export markets, but as base points for investment, production, services, and supply chains.
Recently, the government has been promoting the “K-AI Package,” which utilizes ODA as a platform for the overseas expansion of Korea’s artificial intelligence (AI) industry. By supporting infrastructure-building projects in developing countries with combined AI solutions and data centers, the plan aims to both facilitate digital transformation in those countries and broaden global market access for domestic AI firms and technologies.
KERI proposed four key practical policy tasks to expand the K-AI Package, which entail connecting private investment, international cooperation, and exports as part of a diversified strategy.
Specifically, it recommends preferentially expanding “current combinations,” whose export expansion effects have been verified, into strategic industry-specific package projects, while for “potential combinations”—which have promise but require design improvements—to gradually scale via pilot verification. It also states that tailored international cooperation projects reflecting actual corporate investment and export needs should be formulated, and that an integrated public-private cooperative governance connecting industry, trade, and diplomacy should be established.
In particular, KERI presented linkage models for six strategic industries—including AI and digital transformation (DX), bio, culture, defense, energy, and factory sectors—by combining public cooperation projects and private investment, thus driving export and supply chain diversification.
This involves supporting the construction of smart infrastructure for local resource industries based on AI and DX, then jointly developing mineral preprocessing and logistics hubs to ensure the stable and continuous supply of critical minerals. In the bio sector, it entails initially exporting primary medical devices based on projects to strengthen health and medical standards, and subsequently expanding into medical platform and maintenance services.
The core is to build a virtuous cycle ecosystem that generates “primary export → local market entry → continued export,” not through mere expansion of aid, but by developing systems and infrastructure in emerging markets based on private sector demand.
Shin Wonkyu, Senior Research Fellow at KERI, emphasized, “The success of diversification policies depends less on the absolute scale of public funds and more on how effectively these are connected to the private sector’s needs for trade, investment, and supply chain restructuring and development.”
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He added, “With summit-level diplomatic exchanges this year with countries like India and Vietnam, cooperation has been highlighted in core fields such as energy, AI, bio, defense, and infrastructure. If international cooperation tools are precisely interlinked with private FDI and export demand at the center, it will be possible to simultaneously expect expansion of both Korean businesses’ entry into emerging markets and mutually beneficial economic cooperation.”
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