Korea to Transfer Its ICT Competence to Latin America

Korea's information and communication technology (ICT) capability and the growth potential of Latin America will join forces to promote economic growth in the fourth industrial revolution era. Korea and 13 countries of Central and South America adopted the Busan Declaration on strengthening cooperation based on ICT in the era of the fourth industrial revolution. The Busan Declaration is a result of the Third Korea-Latin America ICT Ministerial Forum.

Korea and 13 countries of Central and South America saw eye to eye on a new vision that they will grow their economies based on Korea's excellent ICT and expand opportunities for Korea’s ICT to make a foray into Central and South America at the 3rd Korea-Latin American ICT Ministers Forum held on September 24 prior to the ITU Telecom World 2017 that will kick off on September 25.

The ministerial forum was attended by ministers or vice ministers from Korea and the 13 countries of Central and South America and the Caribbean region.

"We hope that Korea and Latin America will share their vision and wisdom in the era of the fourth industrial revolution and lay the foundations for common prosperity through this forum," said Yoo Young-min, the Korean minister of science and ICT.

Central and South America have 400 million Internet users with the same language and cultural backgrounds so have great growth potential in the ICT sector. Korea has been holding the ministerial forum every two years to expand its entries into Latin America.

In this third ministerial forum, through the Busan Declaration, the 14 countries agreed to share best practices of ICT infrastructure development and user access and utilization and experience in areas of interest such as the internet of things (IoT), smart cities, AI, blockchains. They also decided to share experience in ICT regulations.

On September 25, the ITU Telecom World 2017 will officially begin. The ITU Telecom World is the world's largest private-public ICT exhibition organized by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), an ICT organization under the United Nations, for its 193 member countries.

SK Telecom and KT will participate and will focus on promoting Korea's ICT technology based on 5G mobile communication in the exhibition. It is expected that the event will serve as an opportunity for Korean mobile carriers to the world of their ICT capabilities at a time when competition is intensifying for the commercialization of 5G telecommunication and the adoption of international standard 5G technologies.