Invest KOREA

KOTRA held a ‘Korea-UAE Business Consultation’ in connection with state visits on Feb. 16
In line with UAE's Diversification Policy, KOTRA promotes expanded cooperation in future new industries.

KOTRA (President Yu Jeong-yeol) held a 'Korea-UAE Business Consultation' in Abu Dhabi, UAE, on Feb. 16 at the time when President Yoon Seok-yeol paid a state visit to the UAE.

Despite having the world's fifth largest oil reserves, the UAE has been pursuing a diversification policy in industries so as to break away from the oil-dependent economic structure. Notably, the UAE government last year launched the 'Make it Emirates program' to foster the manufacturing sector, spurring its industrial diversification.

Taking the opportunity of the state visit, the two countries plan to meet the demands of the UAE's policy and to spread the bilateral economic cooperation from the existing fields of energy, defense industry, and nuclear energy into aerospace, smart city, agriculture (smart farm), and ICT. In doing so, Korea also intends to overcome the present's complex crises by driving expanded exports and economic revitalization.

This conference is about smart city technology, modular vertical farm solutions (smart farm), nuclear power plants and power equipment, solid fuel production plants using domestic waste (environmental industry), cloud service (ICT), rental car reservation platforms (service industry), defense industry A total of 257 one-on-one business consultations were conducted with 36 Korean companies and 105 UAE buyers.

The event had a total of 257 one-on-one business counseling, with the participation of 36 Korean companies engaging in diverse sectors - from smart city technology, modular vertical farm solution (smart farm), nuclear power plant and power equipment, solid refuse fuel production plant using domestic waste (environmental industry), cloud service (ICT), rental car reservation platform (service industry), to defense industry - along with 105 UAE buyers.

While 90 percent of the participating companies were small- and mid-sized & leading innovation enterprises, different ways of business partnerships, besides export consultations, including technical tie-up, joint ventures, and investment attraction were also discussed. And hence, export contracts worth as much as USD 11 million are expected to be signed. Moreover, Midbar CEO Seo Choong-mo, who had conducted joint empirical studies with UAE's Higher Colleges of Technology (HCT),  expressed his ambition by saying, "The Middle East market is crucial in the smart farm field, and UAE is a hub for advancement into the Middle East. And (Midbar) aspires to further enter the markets across the Middle East by using the UAE as a testbed."

KOTRA President Yu said, "The event was held to diversify fields of partnerships by actively using demands for policy coordination, thereby using it as a leverage to enter the UAE, a promising market, and other regions in the Middle East," adding, "KOTRA, even after the event ends, will do its utmost to continue emerging boom of the Middle East by closing supporting the participating enterprises."



Source : Invest KOREA (Jan.17, 2023)