Croatia and Korea possess immense potential for improving business cooperation. Last year, the exchange of goods between the two countries amounted to 60 million dollars, of which 12.55 million can be attributed to Croatian export to Korea, and 47.28 million to import from Korea. Korea ranks 49th among Croatian trade partners, offering promising cooperation in food industry, electrical industry, shipbuilding, pharmaceutical industry, as well as transfer of technologies and know-how.
Aiming for potential cooperation and strengthening of contacts with Korean representatives in the pharmaceutical industry, this East Asian country was recently visited by a Croatian delegation including Ivo Usmiani, Chairman of the JGL's Management Board, and Dunja Siuc Valković, Director of Global Business Development, who held meetings with representatives of established pharmaceutical companies (Hyndai Pharm, Kukje Pharma, Jeil Pharmaceutical, JW Pharmaceutical, SCD Pharma Consulting, Daewoong Pharmaceutical, Green Cross).
JGL has been recognised as an EU company with great potential in the technology platform of sterile solutions. Discussions were held on possible cooperation in both directions, including projects of mutual development and know-how transfer, and JGL as a production site for products targeting the EU market.
Another positive fact is that the Korean pharmaceutical market is one of the largest in Asia, estimated at 18.6 billion dollars in 2013. It is expected to exceed 24.3 billion by 2020. It is noteworthy that, as a country with one of the lowest birth rates globally, Korea has been faced with healthcare challenges of a rapidly ageing population in the recent years.