Ministry of Industry Launches Full-Scale Support for New Industry Cooperation in Middle East and Africa

'Meeting to Expand the Achievements of the Middle East 3-Country Tour'

Jung Dae-jin, Deputy Minister for Trade, Ministry of Industry / Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Sejong=Reporter Dongwoo Lee] The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy announced on the 15th that it held a 'Meeting to Expand the Achievements of the Middle East 3-Country Tour' at the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry, chaired by Deputy Minister for Trade Jeong Dae-jin, with related ministries, affiliated organizations, academia, and experts in attendance.

This meeting was organized to share the outcomes of President Moon Jae-in's tour last month to three Middle East and Africa countries (United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt) and to discuss ways to support the expansion of Korean companies' entry into the Middle East region.

Deputy Minister Jeong, along with representatives from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA), Korea International Trade Association, Korea Institute for International Economic Policy, academia, and the Hydrogen Convergence Alliance (H2Korea), GS Energy, Bioneer, Doosan Heavy Industries, and others attended.

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy explained that through the Middle East 3-country tour, "more than 20 memorandums of understanding (MOUs) related to hydrogen economy and future and eco-friendly industry cooperation were signed," and that "a foundation was established for expanding Korea-Middle East economic cooperation through the 'resumption of Korea-GCC FTA negotiations' and the 'launch of Korea-Egypt trade and economic partnership joint research.'"

Major companies such as H2Korea stated that they are concretizing various business opportunities based on the economic cooperation established through this presidential tour. They viewed new pandemic crisis response and public health sectors as promising business areas. Specifically, they requested government-level interest and support to distribute 'IT convergence medical devices' in the Middle East region.

KOTRA forecasted, "The Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF) has recently been expanding investments in online games and digital sectors such as Nexon and NCSoft, so there will be many new business opportunities in new industries such as bio and IT."

Academia and experts also emphasized that the Middle East region is currently pursuing diversification strategies such as manufacturing, bio, and IT industries to reduce its economic dependence on oil, and that Korean companies need to actively utilize these opportunities.

Deputy Minister Jeong said, "An opportunity has been created to strengthen cooperation with Middle Eastern countries beyond traditional energy and plant cooperation to future eco-friendly industries such as hydrogen, bio, and IT," and “We plan to actively support this as a follow-up achievement to expand the entry of Korean companies into the Middle East region through bilateral and multilateral economic cooperation channels and cooperation between companies, based on this tour.”

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