UAE government officials pay visit to Naver's headquarters

Tech

Published: 12 Jun. 2023, 16:07 Updated: 12 Jun. 2023, 16:55

UAE government officials pay visit to Naver's headquarters

Sharjah's sovereign ruler Sheikh Sultan bin Muhammad Al-Qasimi and government officials visited Naver's 1784 building in Gyeonggi on Monday. [NAVER]

High-ranking government officials from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) explored potential business opportunities with Naver, Korea's major tech company, during their visit to the headquarters of the company called 1784 in Gyeonggi, a metropolitan area near Seoul.

Sheikh Sultan bin Muhammad Al-Qasimi, the sovereign ruler of the city of Sharjah, and his delegation visited Naver's headquarters on Monday. Sharjah is the third most populated city in the UAE.

The visit came about through the country’s interest in digital innovation and the establishment of related infrastructure. Sultan Al Qasimi is also currently the head of the Sharjah Digital Authority (SDA), which is in charge of leading digital transformation efforts in the emirate of Sharjah to enhance nationwide digital infrastructure and services.

The delegation and executives from Naver specifically discussed generative artificial intelligence (AI), as Sultan Al Qasimi was interested in developing an Arabic large-scale language model.

Sultan Al Qasimi and his delegation also experienced Naver’s cutting-edge technologies in robotics, automotive driving, cloud, digital twin and 5G at the building.

Sharjah’s delegation included Abdulla Naqui, SDA director and Fahim Bin Sultan Bin Khalid Al Qasimi, the chairman of Sharjah’s Department of Government Relations. From Naver, Chae Seon-ju, president of communications and social responsibility at Naver, Seok Sang-ok, Naver Labs CEO, Kim Yoo-won, Naver Cloud CEO and Ha Jung-woo, head of AI Innovation at Naver Cloud, participated in the tour.

Naver's 1784 is the internet giant’s second headquarters, which has been in operation since last April. The company described it as a “giant testbed” for its latest technologies from robotics to cloud computing and AI.

Naver signed a memorandum of understanding with Saudi Arabia’s Housing Ministry in March to help with the digitalization of city management using cloud computing, artificial intelligence and digital twin technologies.

“It was an opportunity to witness for myself Korea’s developed digital infrastructure and technologies, which provided us with insight into developing Sharjah’s digital infrastructure and innovation,” Sultan Al Qasimi said.

President Chae said Naver will strive to "will make Naver a globally recognized tech company for its cutting-edge technologies which the company has accumulated over years of investment."

BY LEE JAE-LIM [lee.jaelim@joongang.co.kr]