South Korea's commitment towards education and development of human capital contributed significantly to its rapid economic growth, according to Hyung-sik Woo, Vice Minister of Education, Science and Technology for Korea.
Addressing over 100 delegates from Korea and the Middle East at the 'Global HR Forum 2008', Woo commended Dubai for engineering such a dynamic growth.
Delivering the welcome address, Dr. Ayoub Kazim, Executive Director of Dubai Knowledge Village and Dubai International Academic City, said: 'The initiative will aggressively explore current challenges faced by the HR industry on the formation of global education clusters. It will also help formulate human resources development strategies of global enterprises; vocational education; human resources development strategy in R&D, and new dimensions of cooperation between Korea and the Middle East.
'Our partnership with the government of Korea will not only catalyse the sharing of knowledge and experience among human resource experts, but will also set the stage for exploring innovative solutions in education, enterprise and government, while strengthening bilateral ties between Korea and the Middle East countries.'
The event, which opened today at the DKV Conference Centre in Dubai, seeks to foster partnership and share best practices between Korea and the Middle East.
Hosted by Dubai Knowledge Village (DKV), a member of TECOM Investments, in cooperation with the Government of Korea, the two-day forum has brought together policy makers in education and training across the GCC region and Korea, representatives from education and HR institutions, experts and researchers, besides HR specialists and global leaders.
The South Korean government has continued to launch key initiatives geared towards knowledge generation, while building the necessary infrastructure to facilitate the country's growth. Though geographically distant, Korea and the Middle East are interrelated by a common objective to further human resource development for creating a talent pool that is demanded to run the fast growing economic sectors in both countries.
Key speakers from the Middle East included H.E. Nuriya Al-Sabeeh, Kuwait Minister for Education; Hind Al Mualla, Chief of Innovation, Knowledge and Human Development Authority, UAE, and Dr. Ali Akbar Salehi, Assistant Secretary General (ASG) for Science and Technology, General Secretariat of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) will be present instead of Secretary General.
Speakers from Korea included Sang-Min Shin, President, The Korea Economic Daily; Sang-Soo Ahn, Mayor, Incheon Metropolitan City; Young- Ki Kim, President Handong Global University, Seung-Ho Choi, Secretary-General, Middle-East Society, Senior Vice President of Global HR, LG Electronics; Unna Huh, Former President, Information and Communications University; Chul Park, President, Hankuk University of Foreign Studies; Deck-Kyu Han, Chairman, Korea Middle East Association, and Doo-Hee LEE, President, Asia-Pacific Association for International Education (APAIE).
The Government of Korea inaugurated the Global Human Resources Forum in 2006, in collaboration with The Korea Economic Daily, Ministry of Education and Human Resources Development, and the Korea Research Institute for Vocational Education and Training, in order to garner worldwide effort to develop and utilize competent human resources, as well as promote stronger collaboration between governments, enterprises and educational institutions.