Summary

• Featuring about digital businesses, the Korean Digital Pavilion was set up at "GITEX Expand North Star 2023," held at Dubai, UAE, to provide full-fledged support for export expansion into the Middle East.

• 1,145 buyer-seller meetings were held with an estimated total value of $123M, and secured 3 export contracts worth a total of $5.8M.

• During the meeting with several high-ranking officials, including the UAE Minister of State for AI and Digital Economy and Minister of Economy, Korea's "Digital Bill of Rights" was introduced and support for the charter on the international stage was requested.

The Ministry of Science and ICT (Minister Lee Jong Ho, hereinafter referred to as 'MSIT') dispatched the "Middle East Digital Export Pioneer Team," jointly organized between the private and the public sectors, to "GITEX Expand North Star 2023," held in Dubai from October 15^th (Sun.) to 17^th (Tue.). This effort is part of the increasing cooperation between South Korea and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), especially after the President's state visit to the UAE in January.

Since 1981, GITEX* has been the largest ICT expo in the Middle East. Starting from this year, MSIT has taken up the initiative to explore the Middle East market by sending the Export Pioneer Team, which includes domestic digital businesses. The Team's missions are to conduct export consultations, secure contracts with regional buyers and businesses, and support signing of Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between businesses.

* Gulf Information Technology Exhibition (GITEX) is consisted of 8 separate exhibitions, such as GITEX Expand North Star and GITEX Global, and had attracted participation from 170 thousand individuals from 5,800 businesses and 176 countries in 2022.

The Export Pioneer Team for this year's initiative is led by Kang Do Hyeon, the Deputy Minister for ICT Policy of MSIT. The organization of the team bears an important meaning as its purposes encompass both 'intergovernmental cooperation' and 'private business activities' with its broad range of participants, namely MSIT, National IT Industry Promotion Agency (NIPA), Korea Software Industry Association (KOSA), and 60 domestic digital companies. These participants will work as 'One Team' to seek a breakthrough into the foreign market.

On the first day of the export mission, October 15^th (Sun.) morning, Deputy Minister Kang Do Hyeon held a meeting with Omar Sultan Al Olama, the UAE Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence (AI), Digital Economy, and Remote Work Applications at the GITEX Expand North Star exhibition hall to discuss cooperation in digital policy. Along with Korean digital service providers attending the meeting, the Deputy Minister requested the UAE's interest and support for Korean businesses. Furthermore, the "Digital Bill of Rights," which outlines the fundamental principles of a new digital order, consecutively presented through the New York Initiative in September 2022 and the Paris Initiative in June 2023, was introduced, seeking the UAE's attention and cooperation on the international stage. Following the meeting, Deputy Minister Kang visited the GITEX Expand North Star Korean Digital Pavilion, which featured 60 businesses in the digital sector such as AI, AI chips, metaverse, and cloud technology, to encourage the participating Korean businesses.

On the second day of the export mission, October 16^th (Mon.) at 10:30 AM, Deputy Minister Kang Do Hyeon attended the opening ceremony of GITEX Global. On this occasion, he met with Abdulla Bin Touq Al Marri, the UAE Minister of Economy, and Ghita Mezzour, the Moroccan Minister in charge of Digital Transition and Administration Reform. He exchanged opinions on global digital policy and introduced Korea's Digital Bill of Rights to these officials.

Additionally, on the same day at 3:00 PM, the "2023 ROK-Middle East Digital Innovation Forum (NIPA Forum)" was held at the Rising Stage, inside the Expand North Star exhibition hall. The event began with opening remarks by Cho Joon Hee, the President of KOSA, and congratulatory speeches by Deputy Minister Kang and Moon Byung-jun, the Consul General in Dubai. More than 50 Korean digital service providers, and regional buyers and investors located in the Middle East were present. The event included signing of contracts and MoUs between Korean and Middle Eastern businesses, panel discussions, and invest relations (IR) pitches by Korean digital companies. During this event, domestic businesses secured 3 export contracts worth a total of $5.8M, and signed two MoUs.*

* (ROK) Prinker Korea (A beauty solution company) ↔ (UAE) two exclusive distributors (Names are confidential due to non-disclosure agreement (NDA))

[Summary of three export contracts]

             After the forum, Deputy Minister Kang Do Hyeon met with Ali BuRuhaima, the Deputy Director General of Dubai Development Authority (DDA), to discuss measures for cooperation. DDA is located in Dubai Internet City (DIC), which is a candidate location for the 2024 establishment of the Middle East IT Support Center for Korean digital businesses’ entry into the Middle East market.

             Meanwhile, the 60 businesses exhibiting at the Korean Digital Pavilion reported that as of October 16^th (Mon.), the second day of operation of the Export Pioneer Team, a preliminary estimate indicating 1,145 export consultations worth a total of approximately $123M. This amount is expected to continue growing until the event concludes on October 18^th (Wed.).

             Deputy Minister Kang Do Hyeon mentioned that many Middle Eastern buyers have visited the Korea Digital Pavilion at GITEX Expand North Star. He stated, "The establishment of the Middle East IT Support Center next year will further stimulate domestic businesses’ entry into the Middle East market." He added, "The government is planning full-fledged support and public-private collaboration to foster successful development of the Middle East market, the land with a significant growth potential, by our leading digital companies."

For further information, please contact the Public Relations Division (Phone: +82-44-202-4034, E-mail: msitmedia@korea.kr) of the Ministry of Science and ICT.

please refer to the attached PDF.