The Export-Import Bank of Korea and Korea Trade Insurance Corporation (K-sure) signed a memorandum of understanding Monday to help Korean companies secure more construction and shipbuilding projects overseas and create jobs.

Eun Sung-soo, chief of the Eximbank, and Moon Jae-do, head of K-sure, vowed to enhance cooperation for policy support on bidders looking to win overseas projects, in a meeting held Monday in Eximbank headquarters in Yeouido, Seoul. 

Eximbank and K-sure agreed to share information on overseas construction and engineering projects, which Eximbank says will help them extend financial support to bidders “at the beginning stage.” In line with the approach, a financing package by the two state-run financial institutions would be key, according to Eximbank in a release.

The two will primarily support firms bidding for projects that create quality jobs and use homegrown compartments, the bank also said.

Eximbank and K-sure also pledged to spur local private lenders’ engagement in offshore businesses, considering an increase in the size of projects.

The move is designed to address the declining total value of both construction and shipbuilding orders that Korean companies have secured. Korean firms’ combined value of construction orders shrank over 50 percent in three years to $29 billion in 2017, according to data suggested by Eximbank. Also, the combined value of shipbuilding orders dropped by nearly 60 percent to $12.5 billion in 2017.