Ahead of the first ‘Korea–Central Asia’ summit, scheduled for mid-September, the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), in collaboration with Kazakhstan’s KazAID, organised a two-week training programme for delegates from the region. This was reported by the news agency Orient.

Fourteen senior officials from Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, as well as a representative from KazAID, took part in the course. Participants studied the Korean model of digital government, ‘smart city’ management systems and methods for optimising traffic flows.

The programme concluded on 22 August at the KOICA training centre in Sonnam. The participants familiarised themselves with the work of the Seoul Transport Operation & Information Service and interactive digital government platforms. In addition to touring the infrastructure, the delegates developed individual roadmaps for adapting South Korean technologies to the digitalisation needs of their own countries.

The region’s interest in South Korean technologies stems from the Republic of Korea’s global leadership in the field of IT transformation: according to the UN e-Government Survey, the country ranks first in the world for the quality of online services for citizens and fourth in the overall global ranking. The organisers of the training programme expect that common digital standards and the exchange of expertise will serve as a catalyst for launching joint technology ventures and expanding scientific cooperation between Korea and Central Asia.