Korea's development experience, and cooperation from the World Bank are expected to boost contributions to mobile application development in Tunisia.

The Korea Information Society Development Institute (KISDI) and the World Bank jointly held an international conference on "Mobile Application and Service" on Dec 1 in Tunisia.

Against the backdrop of the rising demand for mobile application and service from the Tunis Government, the participants discussed how to develop the mobile sector in Tunisia based on the mobile-related strategies and experience of Korea and assessment of the current circumstances in Tunisia. The conference provided additional boost to international cooperation for the developing world as the second joint conference with the World Bank following the October meeting in Mogolia.

Tunis Minister of Communications and Technologies Mohamed Naceur Ammar expressed his keen interest in the conference during the opening session of the event. The themes covered by the conference included global trends in mobile application and service, opportunities and threats presented by mobile platform, and governments' role in mobile application and service development.

Session 1 started with the presentations by the World Bank on regional trends of moile application development, and by KT on mobile commerce using USIM, followed by a discussion among the representatives of mobile operators in Tunisia, including Tunis Telecom, Tunisiana, and Orange Tunisia. Session 2 introduced Korea's experience in mobile banking and R&D, and examined the current status of the application market in Korea, followed by the presentations on the latest trends of mobile service and major maket issues in Tunisia. The final session continued with Korean and Tunis speakers' presentations on the government roles for mobile service development.

More than 140 Tunis government officials and entrepreneurs attended the conference, showing strong enthusiasm to learn from Korea's experience. Carlo Rossotto with the World Bank said in his speech that Korea can be an excellent model for developing countries and stressed the significance of the event.

Industry representatives from Korean companies like KT and SK telecom also took part in the conference to share their experience and provide the perspective of the business sector. Their participation raised awareness on Korean firms and enhanced their corporate image, which will likely facilitate Korean enterprises' entry into the African market.

On the next day of the conference (Dec 2, Thu), the Korean delegation and Minister Ammar had a meeting, in which the minister delivered the Tunis Government's willingness for continued cooperation with Korea. He also expressed his gratitude for the policy consultation project executed by KISDI in 2009 and informed the Korean representatives that pilot projects are under way as recommended by the project.  

Through the sideline meeting with the AfDB, AICTO and other ICT-related institutions in the Arab-African region, KISDI also discovered and expanded demand for international cooperation in the region.

Contact for Inquiry : Hong Seung-yeon (02-570-4084)