Jonathan Hadar, Commercial Attache, Israeli Embassy in Seoul

The following article was contributed to the Korea IT Times by the Embassy of Israel on the occasion of the visit of Israels Vice Prime Minister to Korea. Israel and Korea share the same enthusiasm when it comes to the field of IT. Yet our nations are moving in different directions in our mutual goal to play a leading role in this important industry. The history of the cooperation in the IT field dates back to 1990, when this industry originated. At that time the major Israeli and Korean companies started their activities and cooperation. 1996 was a record year, but then we were hit by a couple of external shocks as the financial crises in 1997 in Korea and the world IT slowdown in 2000. These shocks made it hard to materialize the full potential of the collaboration between the two countries. In 2004 we finally saw strong growth of 35% in the trade between the two countries, which was mainly due to the growth in the trade of IT products. Today, more than 70% of the trade between Israel and Korea -- about $800 million-- is in the fields of IT and telecommunications. Still it is much less than the potential we see for cooperation in this field. The secret for the success of the collaboration between Israeli and Korean companies and our optimistic view of future collaboration, lies in the complementary structure of IT industries in both countries. On the one hand, Israeli companies are specializing in cutting edge technologies and are considered to be one of the major sources for R&D in this field. On the other hand, Korea is concentrating in building state of the art systems and infrastructures, which integrate these technologies. This brings us to the very healthy situation in which hundreds of Israeli technological companies are seeking partnerships with Korean companies and at the same time major players in Koreas IT industry are eager to find interesting technologies in Israel. We believe that Korea has a very good chance to move into a leading position in the field of IT, especially if the IT839 strategy of Korea will succeed. In order to beat the competitors and also secure the technological gap with China, Korea should and is already moving very fast.

The Hon. Ehud Olmert, vice prime minister of Israel(right) discusses with Minister Chin.

We believe that Israel can be the source of technologies to maintain the speed and the technological superiority of Korea. For Israeli companies a global alliance is a must; an Israeli company can not exist without a strong partner and that is why Korea is one of the most interesting markets in the world for Israeli companies. During the visit of Israels Vice Prime Minister to Korea two weeks ago, we established the tools and bases, together with the Korean Ministry of Information and Communication and Korean companies, for a record year of cooperation between Israel and Korea in the field of IT. I would like to encourage anyone who wants to seize this window of opportunity to contact us at the economic department of the Israeli embassy in Seoul. We would be glad to give any information needed and help finding joint ventures with Israeli companies. Jonathan Hadar, Commercial Attache, Israeli Embassy in Seoul Seoul@moital.gov.il