Chairman Ryu Jin at Korea-Saudi Investment Forum: "Korean Companies Are the Right Fit for NEOM City"

What Was Discussed at the Korea-Saudi Investment Forum?

The Korean business community discussed active cooperation with Saudi Arabia in new industries such as ICT, hydrogen, and mobility, including the construction of new cities.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

The Korea Economic Association announced on the 23rd that it held the 'Korea-Saudi Investment Forum' jointly with the Saudi Ministry of Investment at the Fairmont Hotel in Riyadh on the 22nd (local time). More than 400 representatives from both countries, including leading businesspeople and government officials, attended. On the Korean side, a total of about 135 businesspeople participated as part of the economic delegation accompanying the state visit to Saudi Arabia, including major conglomerates such as Samsung Electronics, Hyundai Motor Company, Hanwha, GS, Doosan Enerbility, and Naver, as well as promising small and medium-sized enterprises expected to cooperate with Saudi Arabia. On the Saudi side, more than 200 prominent business figures representing Saudi Arabia, including Yasir Al-Rumayyan, Governor of the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF), SABIC, STC, Aramco, and Ma’aden, participated.

At the forum, Ryu Jin, Chairman of the Korea Economic Association, proposed Korea-Saudi economic cooperation plans including ▲cooperation on mega infrastructure projects ▲securing leadership in hydrogen and renewable energy ▲expanding cooperation in future advanced industries. In his opening remarks, Chairman Ryu emphasized that “the commonality between Korea and Saudi Arabia is the DNA of dreamers,” highlighting “excellent leaders who envision the future and outstanding companies and citizens who realize it.” He added, “Let us continue cooperation in infrastructure and construction sectors where long-standing trust and know-how have been built between the two countries,” emphasizing the role of Korean companies as the right partners to lead the success of Saudi Arabia’s mega infrastructure projects such as NEOM City.

Chairman Ryu also stated that if Saudi Arabia, which is planning an economic transformation centered on post-oil and advanced technologies, cooperates with Korea, which has world-class competitiveness in hydrogen and nuclear power fields, they can jointly safeguard global energy security. Furthermore, he stressed that based on Korea’s advanced technologies in core areas such as ICT, mobility, and smart cities, the two countries can create great synergy to realize Saudi Arabia’s national vision.

During the Korea-Saudi Investment Forum’s presentations and discussion sessions, the investment environments of both countries were introduced, and discussions were held on themes such as ▲future cities (smart cities, mega projects, construction, clean energy) and ▲future industries (advanced manufacturing, automobiles, smart agriculture startups). On the Saudi side, entities such as the Diriyah Gate Development Authority (DGDA), responsible for the new city development project called ‘Diriyah Gate,’ known as the second NEOM City, and the National Industrial Development Center (NIDC), which oversees the implementation of Saudi Arabia’s national industrial strategy, participated and presented next-generation cooperation projects between Korea and Saudi Arabia.

Meanwhile, taking advantage of the Saudi economic delegation’s visit, a total of 46 memorandums of understanding and contracts were signed in various fields including plants, hydrogen, electric vehicles, bio, AI and robotics, and software. Notably, during the forum, a signing ceremony was held for the agreement on Hyundai Motor Company’s establishment of a car factory in Saudi Arabia, one of the core projects of the Saudi Public Investment Fund. In addition, practical outcomes ready to start business immediately were achieved, such as cooperation agreements on blue ammonia production between Aramco and Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO), POSCO, and Lotte Chemical.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.