President Lee visited Brazil

Brazil to serve as bridge to BRICs IT market

President Lee propose for cooperation between the Associacao Brasileria da Industria Electria e Electronica and Korean IT industrial associations. Director Aksique (second from the right)

KISDI President John H. Lee visited Brazil from August 4 through August 10, 2004 to explore the possibility for the Korean IT industry to enter the South American IT market.

President Lee visited the KOTRA office in Sao Paulo, Brazil for market research on the BRICs and South American markets and Korea's IT export to Brazil and exchanged opinions with KOTRA Director Kyunyoung Kim on Korea-Brazil trade. They agreed that it is time for Korean IT companies to enter the Brazilian market as the Brazilian economy is recovering.

Mr. Kim talked about Brazil's preparation for the APEC Summit meeting to be held in Chile in November, which will be attended by Korean President Moo Hyun Rho, the possible return visit by Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva to Korea, and the positive effects of visits of presidents of the two nations on the bilateral trade.

President Lee and Mr. Kim agreed that KOTRA with human network and the ICA with technical know-how should cooperate with each other closely. KISDI President Lee agreed to develop Korea's strategy to export IT products to Brazil with Korean SI companies after being briefed by KOTRA on Brazil's information plans.

President Lee shaking hands with Mr. Pallet.

President Lee visited LG electronics plants in Brazil, which was touted as a great success as a multinational in the South American market.

LG electronics in Brazil produces consumer electronics and IT equipment under its "Samba 830" strategy. It has made more than 50% of profit increase every year and now hires 3,000 workers.

President of LG Electronics in Brazil Jungbong Cho said, " It is not true that Brazil is politically and economically instable and it is risky to invest in Brazil. The Brazilian market has never been wrong in fundamentals. Brazil has been politically stable for years. That's why LG Electronics has expanded its investment in facilities in Brazil."

President Lee and Mr. Jungbong Cho (first from the left)

President Lee also visited the Associacao Brasileria da Industria Electria e Electronica and listened to Director Aksique's presentation on ABINEE responsible for the ICT and electronics industries. President Lee proposed that KISDI should serve as the bridge between ABINEE and Korean IT-related associations such as the Federation of Korean Information Industries.

KISDI and ABINEE agreed to form a private IT consultative body to promote bilateral exchanges through regular meetings. The two organizations tentatively agreed to conduct a joint study on the Brazil's IT market if KISDI launches a research on BRICs.

President Lee visiting plants of LG Electronics in Brazil guided by Factory Manager Byunchul Lee.

President Lee also visited the Softex/RioSoft in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

President Lee listened to Executive Director Pallet's presentation on the Brazilian software market, which is 8 billion won and has more than 3,000 companies. President Lee exchanged his opinion with Mr. Pallet on bilateral cooperation in embedded software and open software. He also recommended Mr. Pallet to have exchanges with the Korea Software Industry Association.

KISDI reached MOU with BFPUG

Korea and Brazil to share Function Point in English

KISDI President Lee visited the Softex/RioSoft in Brazil on August 6, 2004 and exchanged a MOU to promote Korea-Brazil technical cooperation with BFPUG representative Mauricio Aguiar on the behalf of KFPUG.

Ceremony for MOU between KEPUG and the BFPUG

With the MOU, Korea and Brazil agreed to share cases of Function Point in English and to send delegations to the upcoming IFPUG Conference, which will be held in San Diego, the U.S., in order to discuss the case study project.

Mr. Aguiar is nominated to be the next president of the IFPUG, which leads the international standardization process of Function Point including information project budget and pricing decisions.

The MOU ceremony was attended by 10 Brazilian software experts including Rio Software Testing Association President Emerson and EDS Brazil Director Silveria.