South Korean Ambassador to Bangladesh, Lee Jang-keun, has said Korean Export Processing Zone (KEPZ) in Chattogram is showing continuous progress in developing the area through a series of efforts. KEPZ is developing the area by adding more factories, establishing ICT zones, opening design and development centers, inaugurating the country’s largest rooftop solar panel electricity generation, and inviting foreign companies, he said. The South Korean envoy, together with German Ambassador to Bangladesh Achim Troester, visited KEPZ on January 7 and looked around the factories and other facilities at the compound, including the newly opened unit of German company STRAUSS. Also Read: KEPZ Hi-Tech park will attract huge FDI, hopes Palak A renowned German outdoor and sportswear company, Strauss, officially opened its design and development center, Struass CI Factory Chattogram, at KEPZ on October 24 last year. Around 200 people are currently employed in Chattogram -- from product development to sales and marketing.  KEPZ has successfully installed and is operating the country’s largest single rooftop solar power plant with a capacity of 22MW, which not only suffices the electricity needs of the zone but is also incorporated with Bangladesh’s national electricity grid, said the South Korean Embassy in Dhaka on Sunday. Also Read: Workers clash with cops at KEPZ; 6 hurt Ambassador Lee, together with State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid, inaugurated KEPZ’s rooftop solar panel plant on June 20, 2021. Ambassador Lee also said that KEPZ’s ICT zone is well underway as planned. Construction of the ICT zone started from April last year through a groundbreaking ceremony with the presence of ICT State Minister Zunaid Ahmed Palak and it is at the last stage of completing two factory buildings. According to the KEPZ, currently 43 operating factories are employing over 22,000 workers. Eight other factories are under construction. Read More: KEPZ textile zone can transform Bangladesh’s textile business: Youngone Chairman KEPZ is the sole private-owned EPZ in the country, operated by the Korean Youngone Corporation which is the first and the largest foreign investor in the RMG sector in Bangladesh.

South Korean Ambassador to Bangladesh Lee Jang-keun has stressed the importance of infrastructure cooperation in developing close bilateral ties between the two countries. Bangladesh and South Korea have a long history of infrastructure cooperation and the two countries see "big potential" for strengthening infrastructure cooperation. The Embassy of the Republic of Korea and KOTRA Dhaka Office organized an Infrastructure Project Roadshow on Tuesday at a city hotel. Ten Bangladesh benders and 11 Korean construction and engineering companies based in Dhaka participated in the event. Ambassador Lee said a total of 111 Korean companies participated in 210 infrastructure projects in Bangladesh, with a total project volume of more than 8 billion US dollars since the establishment of diplomatic ties between the two countries in 1973. Even before Bangladesh’s independence in 1969, one Korean company, Koryo Development, participated in the Dhaka-Chattogram Highway construction project, he said. Korean Government has made various efforts to strengthen cooperation in infrastructure with Bangladesh, such as active utilization of the EDCF, Korea’s soft loan for development funding, and the launching of the Private-Public Partnership Platform in 2019. Read:Japan, WFP to provide $4.3mn food aid to Rohingyas in Bangladesh