S.Korea's NIA to extend IT cooperation project with Kazakhstan

South Korea's state-run research institute National Information Society Agency (NIA) said on Friday that it had signed an agreement with Kazakhstan's National Information Technologies (NITEC) for an IT collaboration project.

This project is jointly promoted by the Korean Ministry of Science and ICT and the NIA, and it has shared since 2020 technology experience with Kazakhstan for three years. The two countries carried out joint tasks such as big data training and platform building.

By taking advantage of the experience and human network gained from this, the government entities plan to lend support to Korean companies to move into Central Asian markets with Kazakhstan as a base. In addition, along with cooperation in the areas of artificial intelligence and big data, joint promotion of digital platform government projects will be attempted for former Soviet Union countries.

After the signing ceremony, NIA President Hwang Jong-sung held a meeting with Bagdat Musin, Kazakh Minister of Digital Development, and Rostislav Konyashkin, CEO of NITEC, the project's operating agency.

"The Central Asian region, including Kazakhstan, is emerging as a new promising market. With the signing of this project agreement with Kazakhstan, it is an opportunity for us to jointly enter the Central Asian market in the field of digital platform government, on which the Korean government is focusing," said President Hwang.

"I hope that this project will be a win-win cooperation between the two countries, rather than one-way support. As Kazakhstan has strengths in the area of government data, we will work closely with Korea in this field," said Minister Musin.

Write to Han-Gyeol Seon at always@hankyung.com