UAE, South Korea to jointly promote entrepreneurship and support SMEs

The UAE Ministry of Economy (MoE) and the Korea Federation of SMEs (KBIZ) will work together to further enable the development of entrepreneurship and strengthen partnerships between SMEs based on an MoU signed recently signed between the two entities.

The entrepreneurship and SMEs sector accounts for 99 per cent of the total companies in South Korea, while the sector in the UAE accounts for 98.5 per cent of the private sector.

Dr. Ahmad Belhoul Al Falasi, Minister of State for Entrepreneurship and SMEs, who signed the MoU said the UAE is keen to strengthen cooperation with South Korea across all sectors.

The promotion of entrepreneurship, cooperation in supporting the SMEs ecosystem and the expansion of cooperation between the private sectors of the two countries are key goals of the partnership.

Al Falasi said: “The UAE attaches great importance to the development of the SMEs sector as one of the main pillars of the country’s new economic model and its strategic plans for the future in line with the ‘Principles and Goals of the 50’. The development of international partnerships is a major focus area of the UAE’s efforts in this regard, and South Korea is a major partner for the UAE in our efforts to develop entrepreneurship. The signing of the MoU will help us strengthen the role of entrepreneurs and SMEs in the two countries in fields of economic cooperation and facilitate the development of partnerships, especially in the sectors of health technology and smart agriculture. It will also drive the growth of trade exchanges and stimulate the flow of quality investments in the fields of innovation, research and development.”

Highlights of the MoU

The two parties will jointly design flexible partnership programmes, enabling Emirati and Korean SMEs to enter markets of the two countries more seamlessly. They will also cooperate in the development of programmes, policies and legislation related to the entrepreneurship sector. The MoU will increase stronger connections between SMEs in the UAE and their peers in South Korea as suppliers and trading partners. They will also develop a joint platform to support SMEs to help the companies identify investment opportunities in both markets.

They partnership will include mechanisms for cooperation to support and exchange market research and information and enable the assistance of experts with regard to supporting SMEs.