14 Ministers from 14 Countries Gathered for Korea-Africa ICT Cooperation

10th Global ICT Leadership Forum Held on the 5th
Hosted as a Side Event of the Korea-Africa Summit
"Cooperating to Create a New Digital Order with Africa"

The Ministry of Science and ICT announced on the 5th that it held the 10th Global ICT Leadership Forum at the Conrad Hotel in Yeouido, Seoul.

On the 5th, the Ministry of Science and ICT held the 10th Global ICT Leadership Forum at the Conrad Hotel in Yeouido, Seoul.
Photo by Seoyul Hwang chestnut@

The Global ICT Leadership Forum has been held annually since 2015 as part of the Official Development Assistance (ODA) projects to share South Korea’s policies and experiences as a digital leading country and to contribute to the establishment and development of ICT policies in developing countries. So far, high-level policy makers at the ministerial and vice-ministerial levels from about 50 countries have participated.

This forum was held as a side event of the Korea-Africa Summit, which has been ongoing for two days since the previous day, with the purpose of establishing ICT cooperation relationships with the African region. ICT ministers from 13 African countries including Egypt, Uganda, Tunisia, Madagascar, Comoros, Eswatini, Sierra Leone, Guinea-Bissau, Lesotho, Malawi, Ghana, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe attended. From Korea, Minister Lee Jong-ho of the Ministry of Science and ICT and Hwang Jong-seong, President of the National Information Society Agency (NIA), participated.

In his opening remarks, Minister Lee Jong-ho said, "As the spread of artificial intelligence (AI) accelerates the transition to a deeper digital era, global cooperation and efforts are essential to create digital norms and order that pursue universal human values." He added, "I hope this forum will be a meaningful venue to jointly create a new global digital order with African countries."

In the first keynote speech, Um Yeol, Director General of ICT Policy at the Ministry of Science and ICT, presented South Korea’s major strategies and policy directions in the AI and digital fields under the theme of ‘AI and Digital-based Innovation Growth Strategy.’ In the second keynote speech, Hwang Jong-seong, President of NIA, spoke on the theme of ‘Korea-Africa Digital Cooperation Plan in the AI Era,’ presenting the Korea-Africa partnership including AI-based ODA.

In the first session that followed, under the theme of ‘Strengthening Global Solidarity and Cooperation in the Deepening Digital Era,’ ministers from six countries including Egypt shared the status of their countries’ digital transformation and global cooperation. In the second session, under the theme of ‘Sustainable Innovation Plans Based on ICT,’ ministers from six countries including Uganda presented their countries’ ICT innovations.

At the K-ICT Experience Center set up at the venue, NIA’s mobile information access center, Lunit’s AI-based cancer diagnosis solution, and LG CNS’s foreign language education AI tutor were exhibited.

Meanwhile, prior to the forum, Minister Lee held bilateral meetings with Amr Talaat, Minister of Communications and Information Technology of Egypt, and Nizar Ben Neji, Minister of Communication Technologies of Tunisia, to discuss ICT cooperation measures. An MOU on ICT cooperation was signed with Tunisia.

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