Gyeonggi Province Governor Dong Yeon Kim met with Singapore Ambassador to Korea Eric Teo to discuss cooperation between Gyeonggi Province and Singapore in areas including the artificial intelligence (AI) industry, startups and youth exchanges.

On the afternoon of February 27, Governor Kim met with Ambassador Theo at the Gyeonggi Provincial Government Complex and said, “We have discussed various areas of cooperation with Singapore, such as artificial intelligence and youth, and I hope we can make progress on these issues through the Ambassador’s visit today.”

Ambassador Theo responded, “I heard that you had a fruitful meeting with Singapore’s President Shanmugaratnam and Minister of Communications and Information Josephine Teo at the Davos Forum…. Gyeonggi Province has a large population and many enterprises. We look forward to cooperating in many areas, including the digital industry, artificial intelligence, data, education and housing.”

Ambassador Teo, who is in his sixth year in Korea, is an expert in Northeast Asian diplomacy, having previously served as Director for Northeast Asia at Singapore’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and in missions to China and Japan. This is Ambassador Teo’s second visit to Gyeonggi Province, having previously visited in August 2020.

Gyeonggi Province has been strengthening its ties with Singapore since Governor Kim attended the Davos Forum in Switzerland in January.

While attending the Davos Forum, Governor Kim met with Singapore Minister for Communications and Information Josephine Theo to exchange views on policy cooperation in the fields of artificial intelligence and data, and on the same day met with Singapore President Tharman Shanmugaratnam to request cooperation in youth exchanges, including Gyeonggi Province’s Youth Ladder Project. On February 6, Augustine Lee, second secretary general of Singapore’s Smart Nation Digital Government Office (SNDGO), visited the provincial capital and met with Gyeonggi Province Vice Governor for Economy Kim Hyun-gon.

Singapore is promoting the strengthening of AI capabilities as a national task, announcing the National AI Strategy in 2019 and establishing and implementing NAIS 2.0 in 2023 to complement rapid technological development, so cooperation with Gyeonggi Province, where most of Korea’s AI and data innovators are located, is expected.

Through this meeting, Gyeonggi Province expects to expand cooperation opportunities with Singapore in economic, technological and people-to-people exchanges.