Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon Secures 5 MOUs in the Middle East... From Corporate Investment to Cultural Cooperation

Only 4 Cases in the Economic Sector... Business Agreements with Chamber of Commerce, Transportation Agency, Future Foundation, etc.
Various Consultations Based on Corporate Overseas Expansion, Future Transportation, Startups
Expansion of Exchanges Among Artists Alongside Museum and Art Gallery Collaborative Exhibitions
Acceleration of Global Expansion Based in the Middle East... "Expecting Smart City Administrative Cooperation"

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon, who embarked on a business trip to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), secured a total of five MOUs (Memorandums of Understanding) locally. As a practical measure for effective economic exchange, the agreements cover diverse fields including future mobility and culture, in addition to investment attraction. Based on this, Seoul plans to expand its competitiveness in the Middle East and accelerate its entry into the global market.

According to the Seoul Metropolitan Government, Mayor Oh, who arrived in Dubai on the 5th (local time), concluded five MOUs during his schedule until the 8th: ▲ Invest Seoul-Dubai Chamber of Commerce MOU ▲ Seoul-Dubai Roads and Transport Authority MOU ▲ Seoul-Dubai Future Foundation Cooperation MOU ▲ Seoul-Abu Dhabi City Sister City MOU ▲ Seoul-Abu Dhabi Music and Arts Foundation MOU. While he gained know-how on city management techniques that transformed the desert into a tourist city during his first visit to Dubai 17 years ago after becoming mayor, this time he has concretely established agreements through comprehensive investment attraction activities.

Since Mayor Oh’s trip focused on investment attraction and tourism in Seoul, four of the MOUs are related to economic fields. The agreement with the Dubai Chamber of Commerce includes the opening of the Dubai Chamber’s Seoul office, as well as detailed plans such as ▲ cooperation on overseas business expansion and investment attraction ▲ exchange of investment attraction programs. Established in 1965, the Dubai Chamber of Commerce is the largest chamber of commerce in the Middle East and North Africa region, with about 80,000 member companies. Considering the extensive management scope of the Dubai Chamber, Seoul expects that the activity areas of Korean companies in the Middle East will also expand in the future.

An agreement was signed with the Dubai Roads and Transport Authority to establish a mutual cooperation system centered on future mobility. This includes policy exchanges on autonomous driving and UAM (Urban Air Mobility) demonstration projects, as well as plans to promote future mobility for citizens. Additionally, cooperation is planned to showcase Dubai’s innovative future mobility technologies at the Seoul-type CES 'Smart Life Week (SLW)' scheduled for October this year.

Cooperation was also strengthened with the Dubai Future Foundation to activate mutual exchanges between Seoul startups and Dubai startups. The Dubai Future Foundation, established by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the ruler of Dubai, plans and executes Dubai’s core future projects. The foundation agreed to support the participation of Seoul startups in its startup nurturing programs.

A sister city agreement was also signed with Abu Dhabi, marking the fourth such partnership with a Middle Eastern city. Through the agreement with Abu Dhabi City, Seoul will establish cooperation and exchange systems in various fields such as transportation, smart cities, and urban development. Since Mayor Oh has been actively attracting investment in the UAE’s Abu Dhabi area, the center of oil money, it is analyzed that the scope of cooperation will expand beyond economic fields with this achievement.

In addition to economic fields, a foundation for cooperation in culture was also established. Mayor Oh secured an agreement with the Abu Dhabi Music and Arts Foundation to expand cultural exchanges between Seoul and Abu Dhabi. Through this agreement, the two cities plan to promote exchange exhibitions between museums and art galleries, exchanges and collaborations among artists, and mutual invitation performances between Seoul’s art groups and UAE art organizations. Mayor Oh stated, “I hope that Seoul and Abu Dhabi will engage in closer exchanges and cooperate on smart city administration.”

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