RIYADH: Saudi Arabia and South Korea have pledged to bolster cooperation in different fields, especially health care, pharmaceuticals and automobile sectors.
The two countries have agreed to set up a dialogue mechanism to discuss strategies to promote the automobile industry in Saudi Arabia, and to work closely to organize a major investment forum, mainly focusing on the pharmaceutical and health industries.
“Riyadh and Seoul have also planned to hold the second meeting of the Korea-Saudi Vision 2030 Committee later this year to bring about tangible outcomes,” said Do Bong-kae, charge d’affaires at the Korean embassy, here Monday. Do was speaking to Arab News after Saudi Energy Minister Khalid Al-Falih’s successful visit to Seoul.
He said: “Al-Falih and his counterpart Paik Un-gye discussed ways and means to expand bilateral cooperation in energy and other key sectors.
As the Saudi Vision 2030 spurs exciting economic opportunities in Saudi Arabia, the two countries are rapidly expanding cooperation in diverse sectors such as health care, renewable and nuclear energy, smart cities and SMEs.
“Over the past several months, since the joint committee for Vision 2030 was set up, the two countries have made substantial progress across several cooperation projects,” he said.
Referring to the growing cooperation between the two countries in the health, pharmaceutical and automotive industries, a report released by the Korean Ministry of Industry said that “the two sides have agreed to form a bilateral working group to develop Saudi Arabia’s auto industry and host a bio investor forum to help Korean companies make inroads into the Middle Eastern nation.”
The report said that the Korean people, as well as foreigners who live in Korea, have access to high-quality health care at a low cost.
The administrative cost of the health insurance structure is also notably low in South Korea. Moreover, Korea has emerged as a leading pharmaceutical market and global hub in Asia over the past two decades. With a population of 50 million, it is the third largest pharmaceutical market in the Asia-Pacific region.
Seoul’s goal is also to become one of the top-seven global pharmaceutical powerhouses by 2020. In 2016, the country’s pharmaceutical market was worth more than $16 billion. It is estimated to reach $20 billion in 2020.
Referring to the prospects of cooperation in the automobile sector, the report said that the Kingdom could benefit from the experiences of Korea, whose automotive industry is highly developed. It ranks today as the fifth largest automobile-producing country in the world.
Moreover, the growing commercial relations between the two countries in all these sectors, including the automotive industry, will cement trade and investment ties further.
The two countries have already forged closer ties on the commercial front. Two-way trade volume reached $21.3 billion in 2017, with South Korea exporting $5.6 billion worth of cars, electronic goods, steel and textiles to Saudi Arabia. On the other hand, South Korea imported $15.7 billion worth of crude oil and petrochemical products during the same period with the balance of trade in favor of the Kingdom.
Saudi Arabia, South Korea to bolster ties in auto, health and pharma sectors
Saudi Arabia, South Korea to bolster ties in auto, health and pharma sectors
- The two countries have agreed to set up a dialogue mechanism to discuss strategies to promote the automobile industry in Saudi Arabia
- Al-Falih and his counterpart Paik Un-gye discussed ways and means to expand bilateral cooperation in energy and other key sectors: South Korea charge d’affaires in Riyadh
AI will never replace human creativity, says SRMG CEO
- Speaking to Maya Hojeij, senior business anchor at Asharq with Bloomberg, Jomana R. Alrashid expressed pride in SRMG platforms that had absorbed and adopted AI
RIYADH: Jomana R. Alrashid, CEO of Saudi Research and Media Group, highlighted how AI cannot replace human creativity during a session at The Family Office’s “Investing Is a Sea” summit at Shura Island on Friday.
“You can never replace human creativity. Journalism at the end of the day, and content creation, is all about storytelling, and that’s a creative role that AI does not have the power to do just yet,” Alrashid told the investment summit.
“We will never eliminate that human role which comes in to actually tell that story, do the actual investigative reporting around it, make sure to be able to also tell you what’s news or what’s factual from what’s wrong ... what’s a misinformation from bias, and that’s the bigger role that the editorial player does in the newsroom.”
Speaking on the topic of AI, moderated by Maya Hojeij, senior business anchor at Asharq with Bloomberg, the CEO expressed her pride in SRMG platforms that had absorbed and adopted AI in a way that was “transformative.”
“We are now translating all of our content leveraging AI. We are also now being able to create documentaries leveraging AI. We now have AI-facilitated fact-checking, AI facilities clipping, transcribing. This is what we believe is the future.”
Alrashid was asked what the journalist of the future would look like. “He’s a journalist and an engineer. He’s someone who needs to understand data. And I think this is another topic that is extremely important, understanding the data that you’re working with,” she said.
“This is something that AI has facilitated as well. I must say that over the past 20 years in the region, especially when it comes to media companies, we did not understand the importance of data.”
The CEO highlighted that previously, media would rely on polling, surveys or viewership numbers, but now more detailed information about what viewers wanted was available.
During the fireside session, Alrashid was asked how the international community viewed the Middle Eastern media. Alrashid said that over the past decades it had played a critical role in informing wider audiences about issues that were extremely complex — politically, culturally and economically — and continued to play that role.
“Right now it has a bigger role to play, given the role again of social media, citizen journalists, content creators. But I also do believe that it has been facilitated by the power that AI has. Now immediately, you can ensure that that kind of content that is being created by credible, tier-A journalists, world-class journalists, can travel beyond its borders, can travel instantly to target different geographies, different people, different countries, in different languages, in different formats.”
She said that there was a big opportunity for Arab media not to be limited to simply Arab consumption, but to finally transcend borders and be available in different languages and to cater to their audiences.
The CEO expressed optimism about the future, emphasizing the importance of having a clear vision, a strong strategy, and full team alignment.
Traditional advertising models, once centered on television and print, were rapidly changing, with social media platforms now dominating advertising revenue.
“It’s drastically changing. Ultimately in the past, we used to compete with one another over viewership. But now we’re also competing with the likes of social media platforms; 80 percent of the advertising revenue in the Middle East goes to the social media platforms, but that means that there’s 80 percent interest opportunities.”
She said that the challenge was to create the right content on these platforms that engaged the target audiences and enabled commercial partnerships. “I don’t think this is a secret, but brands do not like to advertise with news channels. Ultimately, it’s always related with either conflict or war, which is a deterrent to advertisers.
“And that’s why we’ve entered new verticals such as sports. And that’s why we also double down on our lifestyle vertical. Ultimately, we have the largest market share when it comes to lifestyle ... And we’ve launched new platforms such as Billboard Arabia that gives us an entry into music.”
Alrashid said this was why the group was in a strong position to counter the decline in advertising revenues across different platforms, and by introducing new products.
“Another very important IP that we’ve created is events attached to the brands that have been operating in the region for 30-plus years. Any IP or any title right now that doesn’t have an event attached to it is missing out on a very big commercial opportunity that allows us to sit in a room, exchange ideas, talk to one another, get to know one another behind the screen.”
The CEO said that disruption was now constant and often self-driving, adding that the future of the industry was often in storytelling and the ability to innovate by creating persuasive content that connected directly with the audience.
“But the next disruption is going to continue to come from AI. And how quickly this tool and this very powerful technology evolves. And whether we are in a position to cope with it, adapt to it, and absorb it fully or not.”
