Sejong Law Firm, led by Managing Partner Oh Jong-han, announced on August 25 that it co-hosted the inaugural Eurasia Diplomatic Roundtable with the Eurasia21 Association on August 20 at the Sejong GR Conference Room.
The event aimed to address key issues in Korea-Russia economic cooperation amid changing international circumstances and to establish dialogue channels among businesses, experts, legal professionals, and private institutions.
Attendees included Alexey Sapetko, head of the Russian Trade Mission in South Korea, Kim Soo-eon, chairman of Eurasia21, and Sung Won-yong, president of Eurasia21, along with representatives from domestic companies, institutions, and academia.
Georgy Zinoviev, the Russian Ambassador to South Korea, sent a congratulatory message for the event. Sejong's participants included senior advisor Baek Joo-hyun, Russian attorneys Baek Dong-hwa and Alexey Stukalov, expert Kim Jae-young, and senior consultant Park Sophia, with Baek Dong-hwa serving as the event's moderator.
In his message, Ambassador Zinoviev emphasized the need for continued exchanges and practical cooperation between businesses and experts from both countries, despite the external constraints currently facing Korea-Russia relations.
Following this, Sapetko provided an overview of Russia's economic and industrial environment and the current state of Korea-Russia trade, highlighting the demand for new cooperation between businesses in various sectors, including seafood, food, agricultural products, consumer goods, and transportation, production, and energy infrastructure. He also stated that the Russian Trade Mission could assist Korean companies in finding local partners and relevant institutions.
Participants focused on practical issues in Korea-Russia economic cooperation, particularly sanctions, export controls, and financial and payment risks. They noted that even transactions not subject to sanctions could face delays or interruptions due to internal reviews by financial institutions, intermediary bank policies, and transportation and insurance restrictions. Therefore, they suggested a comprehensive review of items, HS Codes, end uses, trading partners, beneficial owners, payment banks, and transportation routes from the outset of transactions.
Key topics included trade in Russian seafood and food products, small and medium-sized enterprises entering the Russian market, and construction and infrastructure projects. In particular, the construction and infrastructure sector emphasized the need to pre-check entry requirements such as local corporations, construction licenses, technical standards, and qualifications and performance records in anticipation of future market changes.
Additionally, as Korean companies face challenges in systematically securing information on recovery and infrastructure projects in Russia, there was consensus on the need for a system to continuously gather information on government procurement, local governments, public enterprises, and private investment projects by leveraging the Russian Trade Mission, private organizations, and local networks.
Regarding the increasingly discussed Arctic Route, practical issues such as navigation safety, seasonality, business viability, sanctions, insurance, payments, and Russian port, icebreaking, and navigation support services were also discussed.
Sejong provides comprehensive consulting on investments, M&A, infrastructure and construction, finance, trade, sanctions, export controls, and dispute resolution in Russia and Central Asia through its Eurasia PG. Additionally, it operates an integrated consulting system for Arctic Route-related issues, including regulations, sanctions, trade, special laws and policies, ship financing, marine insurance, and environmental regulations and ESG through its Arctic Route Task Force.
Sejong plans to strengthen cooperation with the Russian Trade Mission and related institutions following this roundtable and to connect specific business needs of companies with local partners and project information. Future discussions will also expand beyond Russia to include Central Asia and the Caucasus region.
Founded in 1983, Sejong Law Firm is one of South Korea's leading law firms, providing optimized legal services in various fields, including M&A, finance, litigation, taxation, intellectual property, and labor, with approximately 700 experts serving corporate and individual clients.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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