[Asia Economy Reporter Jeong Hyunjin] KOTRA and the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry jointly held the 'Korea-Saudi Smart Innovation Growth Forum' on the 18th at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, together with the Council of Saudi Chambers (CSC) and Saudi NCPP, the 19th announced.
The forum was attended by about 60 people including President Moon Jae-in, Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Moon Seung-wook, Gong Young-woon, Chairman of the Korea-Saudi Economic Cooperation Committee (President of Hyundai Motor Company), Yoo Jung-yeol, President of KOTRA, Choi Chang-won, Vice Chairman of SK Discovery, Oh Se-chul, President of Samsung C&T, Hussein Al Qatani, CEO of S-OIL, Jung Seung-il, President of Korea Electric Power Corporation, Jung Il-taek, President of Kumho Tire, and Yoo Han-oh, CEO of Bioneer.
At this event, which included side events such as the signing ceremony of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) linked to the forum, more than 60 Korean-Saudi businesspeople and heads of institutions participating agreed to discover businesses responding to changes such as COVID-19, carbon neutrality, and digital transformation, and to strengthen cooperation on 'Saudi Vision 2030.' Since 2017, Korea has been promoting cooperative projects focusing on five key areas as one of the priority cooperation countries of Saudi Vision 2030: manufacturing and energy, digital and smart infrastructure, capacity building, health and life sciences, and expansion of trade and investment in small and medium-sized enterprises.
Saudi Arabia is promoting the diversification of industries to achieve the de-oilization of the national economic structure in line with the basic direction of Saudi Vision 2030. It is focusing on hydrogen as an energy source to replace crude oil, centered on the carbon neutrality goal by 2060.
At the MOU exchange ceremony linked to the forum, cooperation in the hydrogen sector between the two countries was largely included. Major agreements related to hydrogen cooperation included △hydrogen and ammonia cooperation △hydrogen cooperation △green hydrogen projects △hydrogen supply chain establishment △introduction of TC2C and project execution cooperation △research and development cooperation △domestic venture investment cooperation △joint cooperation on commercialization of blue ammonia and blue hydrogen △fuel conversion cooperation in the power generation sector.
In addition, companies from both countries agreed to strengthen cooperation in areas such as patents, manufacturing, digital and bio, and finance through a strategic partnership agreement in the intellectual property field, establishment contract of a forging joint venture, tire joint venture establishment, export purchase intention letter for Dr.Answer, and key condition agreement for basic credit agreement.
Yoo Jung-yeol, President of KOTRA, said, "Saudi Arabia, which has the largest economic scale in the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) region, is an important economic cooperation partner for us," adding, "Especially as a priority cooperation country of Saudi Vision 2030, we will spare no support to strengthen mutual trade and investment cooperation in fields such as hydrogen, digital transformation, and infrastructure."
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