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| ▲ Lim Ki-keun (R), administrator of the Public Procurement Service (PPS) of Korea, poses with Martin S. Ledolter, managing director and CEO of Austria's Bundesbeschaffung GmbH, during their meeting in Austria on April 8, 2025, in this photo provided by PPS. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap) |
Korea-Austria procurement talks
Top procurement officials of S. Korea, Austria agree to deepen cooperation
SEOUL, April 10 (Yonhap) -- Top procurement officials of South Korea and Austria held talks in the European country earlier this week to discuss closer bilateral cooperation, the Public Procurement Service (PPS) said Thursday.
The meeting between PPS Administrator Lim Ki-keun and Martin S. Ledolter, managing director and CEO of Bundesbeschaffung GmbH (BBG), Austria's central procurement organization, took place in Austria on Tuesday (local time), PPS said.
It marked the first official meeting between the heads of PPS and BBG. BBG, as a central purchasing body, is responsible for approximately 80 percent of the country's total public procurement volume under the supervision of the Federal Ministry of Finance.
The meeting took place following the participation of an Austrian delegate in the 2025 International Public Procurement Workshop, co-hosted by PPS and the OECD in South Korea in March. During the workshop, both sides expressed a strong willingness to enhance bilateral cooperation.
Lim shared the nation's experience in establishing the next-generation KONEPS (government e-procurement system) and engaged in in-depth discussions on innovative and sustainable procurement, while Ledolter presented BBG's recent achievements in innovative procurement.
Both sides reaffirmed their commitment to strengthening cooperation and agreed to further clarify and define areas of cooperation with a view to signing an MOU, PPS said.
In addition, Lim invited BBG to join the Multilateral Meeting of Government Procurement (MMGP), which includes South Korea, the United States, Britain, Canada, Italy and Chile, as part of an effort to solidify the nation's global leadership in public procurement sector.
In response, Ledolter proposed South Korea's potential engagement in the consultative body of 21 European central purchasing bodies.
Lim said that South Korea and Austria will take a leading role in advancing public procurement administration by sharing their best practices in innovative procurement and e-procurement operation.
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