Land of Opportunity’ Attention to Saudi Arabia… Korea Participates in GPMF as Country of Honor

This is article from Chosun Biz, South Korean leading business magazine

The Global Project Management Forum (GPMF), where project management experts from around the world gather, was held in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, from the 12th to the 13th (local time). As the guest of honor for this year's forum, a large number of Korean companies also attended and had time to exchange with large project ordering organizations and companies in Saudi Arabia.

According to the GPMF, about 20 companies and organizations participated in the forum, including not only local Saudi Arabian institutions such as the Saudi Arabian Government Fund (PIF) and the Saudi Seawater Desalination Authority (SWCC), but also Oracle, a US software company, and KPMG and EY, a global consulting company. They set up a booth at the forum and promoted their respective project management skills and solutions. It is said that more than 10,000 people from 100 countries around the world, including ordinary participants, gathered.

In his opening remarks on the first day of the event, GPMF Chairman, Badr Burshaid ??? ?????? said, “The goal of this forum is to introduce Saudi Arabia’s new economic activity to the world.” ”he said. Vision 2030 is a national transformation project announced by the Saudi government in 2016. The main point is to move away from an economic structure that is highly dependent on the oil industry and transform into a future-oriented high-tech manufacturing country.

The GPMF selected the Republic of Korea as the country of honor for this year's event. Joon-yong Park, Korean Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, gave a congratulatory speech and introduced an anecdote about the relationship between the two countries, referring to Choi Jong-hwan, the late founding chairman of Samwhan Enterprises (now SM Samwhan Enterprises). In 1973, Chairman Choi was the first Korean construction company to win an order for a highway project in Saudi Arabia. Ambassador Park emphasized, “Since (Chairman Choi), many Korean companies have entered Saudi Arabia, and over the past 50 years, they have contributed not only to the Korean economy but also to the modernization of Saudi Arabia.”

Domestic companies invited by the GPMF also participated in the forum in large numbers. Dohwa Engineering, a specialized construction engineering company, and Heerim, an architectural design and supervision company, Wave, a food tech robot company, ILMANI, an integrated monitoring platform for construction sites, Vestella Lab, a smart parking solution company, and Angel, a drone data platform company swing, etc. In particular, Galaxy Corporation, a metaverse avatar company, attracted attention by introducing a 3D avatar of President Versade at the opening ceremony.

In this two-day event, exchanges between local companies and institutions in Saudi Arabia and Korean domestic companies were also actively carried out. An official from Dohwa Engineering said, "Many subsidiaries under PIF and clients of large projects in Saudi Arabia, such as SWCC, visited our booth. Thanks to this, we had many opportunities to introduce our strengths."

On the second day of the event, a roundtable was held between Korean companies and Saudi institutions hosted by the GPMF and attended by Ambassador Park Joon-yong. Abdullah Suhaimi, Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing of Saudi Arabia (MOMRAH), and the CEO of Jeddah Central Development, which oversees the development of Jeddah, the western city of Saudi Arabia, attended the ceremony. It is said that the Saudi side first introduced the project they were promoting, followed by a brief announcement of what role Korean companies could play in the project. A MOMRAH official said, “We are looking forward to increasing our partnership with Korea,” adding, “Korea’s drones and AI fields are of particular interest.”

*Original Article in Korean:?https://biz.chosun.com/industry/company/2023/06/14/QPMKIXIWORDPPPLVB6Z6AMZ7K4/?utm_source=naver&utm_medium=original&utm_campaign=biz