Startups ministry, local companies to seek opportunities in Middle East

By Baek Byung-yeul

The Ministry of SMEs and Startups will participate in the BIBAN 2023 startup and tech event, which will be held next month in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, with 10 domestic startups as part of the ministry's efforts to seek more business opportunities in the Middle East, according to the ministry, Tuesday.

The startups ministry held a meeting in Seoul with experts from the private sector to share the outcome of the ministry's visit to the United Arab Emirates last month from Jan. 14 to 17 and discuss follow-up measures.

The meeting was titled as a task force for discussing ways to support Korean companies to enter the Middle East market.

“During the visit, President Yoon Suk Yeol said he would make every effort to help domestic companies show their capabilities in the global market. To support his plan, we have launched a task force comprised of experts from the public and private sectors for the Middle East market,” SMEs and Startups Minister Lee Young said.

During the meeting, participants discussed the direction of follow-up measures regarding the memorandum of understanding (MOU) on cooperation with startups between the startups ministry and the UAE's Ministry of Economy.

Specifically, Korean company's foray into the UAE was discussed as the Middle Eastern country seeks to diversify its business portfolio that is currently too focused on oil-related businesses. The startups ministry elaborated its policy directions comprised of supporting startups, exports and technologies and listened to various opinions from experts from the private sector.

Discussions were also held on the business agreement with the UAE's state-run media companies. They also reviewed ways to establish partnerships for small and medium-sized content and consumer goods companies to enter the UAE market.

Not only business expansion into the UAE, but also expanding into the Saudi Arabian market was discussed during the meeting.

“The startups ministry has recruited 10 companies that will take part in next month's BIBAN 2023. We could see the high interest of domestic startups in the Saudi Arabian market because a total of 151 companies applied for the recruitment,” the ministry said.

The minister added, “The ministry will focus its policy capability on helping small and medium-sized companies seize opportunities for global growth in the Middle East, which is preparing for future growth on abundant financial power by closely implementing follow-up measures of the UAE tour.”