Akim of Almaty and Mayor of Seoul discussed issues of digitalization and transport infrastructure development

Akim of Almaty Yerbolat Dosayev visited Seoul as part of a working trip. The Almaty delegation was received by Seoul Mayor Oh Se Hoon. The parties discussed the implementation of the agreements established at the highest level between the Presidents of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev and South Korea Yun Seok-el at the UN General Assembly forum on the development of bilateral partnership.

Yerbolat Dosayev and O Xie Hong discussed approaches and measures to ensure sustainable economic growth, the importance of introducing innovations to create a Smart City, the development of the transport infrastructure of megacities, etc.

"Seoul is one of the most dynamically developing cities in the world, an example of proper development and vision in the short and long term. Seoul's experience in technological development, modernization of high-speed public transport, attracting private investment, waste disposal and solving environmental problems, attracting tourists is interesting and useful for Almaty," the Mayor of Almaty said during the meeting.

In turn, one of the proposals of the Mayor of Seoul About Se Hoon concerned Seoul's readiness to strengthen bilateral relations with Almaty and support mutual initiatives. The Mayor also spoke about Seoul's experience and cooperation projects with major technology companies in the modernization of the public transport system.

Yerbolat Dosayev spoke about the master plan of the transport framework being developed in Almaty, which will allow to increase the quality of transportation and the speed of movement of passengers by a third. It will be based on high–speed public transport – metro, LRT and BRT - within walking distance for 75% of the population.

As part of the working trip, the delegation visited the data hub of the Seoul Transport information service TOPIS (Seoul Transport Operation & Information Service), which monitors indicators related to the transport system of the metropolis, natural disasters in Seoul around the clock, which ultimately allows the city services to respond promptly to them.

During the meeting, prospects for building up bilateral trade and economic partnership were also discussed. Since the beginning of 2023, the trade turnover between Almaty and the Republic of Korea has increased by 23.6% and amounted to 720 million dollars.

During the visit of the Almaty delegation chaired by Akim Yerbolat Dosayev to Seoul, a number of meetings were held with the heads of Samsung Medison, Samsung C&T, Hyundai Rotem, GL RAPHA, SK Ecoplant Co, etc. on the issue of cooperation in the fields of digitalization, medicine and pharmaceuticals, mechanical engineering, as well as on environmental issues and ecological transport.