Riyadh, Saudi Arabia – The Saudi Ministry of Municipal, Rural Affairs, and Housing and the Ministry of Investment have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the NAVER Group of South Korea to undertake joint digital projects in the kingdom .
The NAVER, NAVER LABS, and NAVER Cloud, specialize in information technology.
As part of a comprehensive collaboration, Naver will help the Saudi Arabian government with digital transformation projects, possibly involving robotics and digital twin technologies for city management as well as mobile app development.
Naver was one of the 22 companies that sent representatives to accompany Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Won Hee-ryong on his trip to Saudi Arabia in November last year, seeking to participate in the country’s massive $500-billion smart city project known as NEOM.
Naver pitched its smart building technology used in the Naver 1784 building during the trip to Saudi Arabia.
Three weeks after the trip, Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Municipality and Rural Affairs and Housing Majed bin Abdullah Al-Hogail visited Naver’s office building in Seongnam, Gyeonggi.
Naver’s newly-built office building, named Naver 1784, is serving as a test bed for many mapping technologies and robots.
“As Team Naver’s technological capabilities built with long-term investments have been recognized in the global market, we will actively work with the Saudi Arabian government for its state-led digital transformation project,” said Chae Seon-ju, head of environment, social and governance at Naver, who led the company’s team during the trip to Saudi Arabia.
The parties aim to enhance cooperation to promote investment in the kingdom and to unify efforts with relevant authorities to achieve common goals.
The MoU was signed in the presence of the Minister of Municipal, Rural Affairs, and Housing, Majid Abdullah Al-Hogail, and the Minister of Investment, Eng. Khalid Abdulaziz Al-Falih.
The Korean side was represented by Seon-Ju from NAVER, Seok Sang-ok from NAVER LABS, and Sang-young Han from NAVER Cloud.