Seoul mayor to visit UAE to discuss fintech, transportation

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon speaks during a conference on constructing sustainable buildings to overcome the climate crisis held at City Hall on Thursday. [NEWS1]

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon will embark on a seven-day trip to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) next week to attend an international conference on financial technology in Dubai and introduce his vision of the capital's innovative transportation in Abu Dhabi.

According to the Seoul Metropolitan Government on Thursday, Oh will leave for Dubai on Sunday to deliver a keynote speech at the Dubai FinTech Summit, introducing his city as a global economic and innovative hub.

The annual summit marks its second year under the patronage of UAE Deputy Prime Minister Sheikh Maktoum bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum. Participants will discuss the latest innovations and challenges in financial technology during the event held on Monday, local time.

The mayor is also scheduled to visit the Dubai Chamber of Commerce the same day to sign a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between Seoul's foreign investment promotion agency, Invest Seoul, and the Dubai chamber.

Seoul hopes to enhance economic cooperation through the agreement and open a branch of the Dubai chamber in the capital.

To promote Seoul, Oh will visit the city’s promotion event, dubbed "Seoul My Soul in Dubai," held at The Agenda on the same day. The two-day event held through Tuesday will showcase various features of Seoul, including beauty, food and tourism.

The mayor will additionally sign a business agreement with Dubai’s Road and Transport Authority to establish cooperation on future mobility.

Through the cooperation, the city hopes to expand exchanges with Dubai on technologies such as autonomous driving and urban air mobility. It also plans to introduce Dubai’s future mobility technology at Smart Life Week in October, which the city government is calling "a Seoul version of CES."

The mayor will also travel to Abu Dhabi on Wednesday to speak at the Annual Investment Meeting on the city’s policies on future transportation.

During his stay in Abu Dhabi, Oh will sign to form a friendly relationship with the UAE capital and Seoul. This will make Abu Dhabi the fourth city in the Middle East to become a “friendship” city with Seoul.

The mayor will visit multiple sites during the trip for inspiration to develop Seoul. He will visit Yas Island in Abu Dhabi, a leisure island featuring a circuit and arena, to get ideas on the development of a multipurpose entertainment center in the Sangam-dong area in western Seoul.

The mayor will wrap up his trip after visiting Abu Dhabi’s sustainable Masdar City, which was built to depend on renewable energy to reach carbon neutrality.

BY CHO JUNG-WOO [cho.jungwoo1@joongang.co.kr]