Korea's procurement agency, OECD host international workshop

By Lee Kyung-min

The International Public Procurement Workshop 2025, co-hosted by the Public Procurement Service (PPS) and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), attracted hundreds of government officials and industry leaders from 10 countries, PPS officials said Thursday.

The three-day event, which will continue through Friday, is held at KINTEX in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province. The workshop, which was launched in 2016, has since advanced discussions on sharing global public procurement issues and Korea’s public procurement policies.

The annual event brought together 10 countries leading central procurement — Austria, Canada, Finland, France, Ireland, Norway, Slovenia, Sweden, Turkey and Britain.

Among the key topics will be the importance of strategic procurement and the digital transformation of e-procurement.

During the event, the PPS shared Korea’s digital innovation efforts in public procurement and experience in establishing the Next-Generation KONEPS, or the Korea ON-line E-Procurement System.

The state-run procurement agency signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Public Procurement Authority of Turkey to enhance public procurement cooperation.

The PPS held bilateral meetings with Canada, France and Norway to discuss cooperation in strategic procurement and e-procurement, shared experiences in enacting its public procurement law and expanded exchange opportunities among suppliers.

PPS Administrator Lim Ki-keun said this year’s event holds great significance as it serves as a platform for jointly exploring the importance of strategic procurement and digital transformation.

“We will continue to strengthen cooperation with the OECD and advanced countries in the field of procurement administration to ensure that Korea’s public procurement leads global standards," Lim said.

Meanwhile, the MOU between the public procurement authorities of Korea and Turkey renewed one initially signed in 2013.

Central to the renewed MOU is Korea’s sharing of knowledge regarding the establishment of the Next-Generation KONEPS and the introduction of innovative public procurement market industry players.

Lim said the PPS is committed to sharing its expertise in establishing and operating the Next-Generation KONEPS with the world. “We will actively support Korean companies in expanding their presence in Turkey — a key strategic hub connecting Europe and Asia."