Korea's SME federation signs MOUs with Italy's top business, cooperative bodies

The Korea Federation of SMEs signed cooperation agreements with Italy's leading small business and cooperative organizations at a joint seminar in Rome on Thursday, pledging to deepen private-sector ties between the two countries.

The event was designed to follow through on commitments made during Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's visit to South Korea in January, when the two sides agreed to expand cooperation between their small and medium-sized enterprises and cooperatives. The Ministry of SMEs and Startups and the federation used the Italy trip to launch the "K-Brand Glow Week" initiative and push for broader exchanges between the two countries' SMEs and cooperatives.

The Korean delegation at the Grand Hotel Plaza included Vice Minister of SMEs and Startups Noh Yong-seok, Korea Federation of SMEs Executive Vice President Oh Ki-woong, Korea Institute for Small and Medium Enterprise and Entrepreneurship President Cho Ju-hyun, and representatives from the Daegu-North Gyeongsang Province Machinery Cooperative and the Korea Medical Device Cooperative. The Italian side included officials from the government's Ministry of Enterprises and Made in Italy (MIMIT), CONFAPI Vice President Francesco Napoli, LEGACOOP Lazio Regional President Mauro Iengo, and other SME and cooperative representatives — about 30 participants in all.

With Vice Minister Noh in attendance, the federation signed separate MOUs with CONFAPI, Italy's leading SME business association, and LEGACOOP, the national cooperative federation. Founded in 1947, CONFAPI represents approximately 116,000 small and medium-sized enterprises, primarily in manufacturing. LEGACOOP, established in 1886, represents more than 10,000 cooperatives and over 7 million members nationwide.

Under the agreements, the organizations committed to supporting business matching, exchanging cooperative-related policies and information, and sharing market intelligence. The aim is to build a stronger private-sector foundation for Korean SMEs seeking to enter the Italian market and to expand exchanges between the two countries' cooperatives.

A seminar followed the signing ceremony, where both sides shared their SME and cooperative growth models and support systems. LEGACOOP economist Andrea Cori presented on the development of Italian cooperatives and their consortium management model, while CONFAPI Machinery Federation President Luigi Sabadini outlined Italian SMEs' internationalization strategies and CONFAPI's support framework.

On the Korean side, Cho Ju-hyun, president of the Korea Institute for Small and Medium Enterprise and Entrepreneurship, presented on building an SME innovation ecosystem through Korea-Italy cooperation.

"Italy is a powerhouse of cooperative development, having used industry- and region-based cooperative networks to overcome the limitations facing individual small businesses," Oh Ki-woong, executive vice president of the Korea Federation of SMEs, said. "We will draw on Italy's SME and cooperative growth experience to explore ways to strengthen the role of cooperative organizations here in Korea."

CONFAPI, short for Confederazione italiana della piccola e media industria privata, is Italy's confederation of private small and medium-sized industrial enterprises and one of the country's main SME representative bodies.

LEGACOOP, short for Lega Nazionale delle Cooperative e Mutue, is Italy's national league of cooperatives and mutual societies, serving as the country's principal cooperative federation.