Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and Overseas Construction Association to host Global Infrastructure Cooperation Conference

The Global Infrastructure Cooperation Conference 2026 will be held for three days starting Tuesday at the Conrad Seoul hotel in Yeouido.
The Global Infrastructure Cooperation Conference 2026 will be held for three days starting Tuesday at the Conrad Seoul hotel in Yeouido.

South Korea's largest infrastructure diplomacy forum, the Global Infrastructure Cooperation Conference (GICC) 2026, will open Tuesday for a three-day run at the Conrad Seoul hotel in Yeouido.

Hosted by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and organized by the Overseas Construction Association of Korea, the GICC has been held annually since 2013 to foster infrastructure cooperation among the government, major overseas project owners, multilateral development banks, and construction and engineering firms, and to support Korean companies in expanding into overseas markets. Since its launch, the conference has drawn participants from 590 organizations across 90 countries and has facilitated roughly 450 international project partnerships.

This year's conference is expected to draw about 500 participants, including ministers, vice ministers and chief executives from 32 countries — among them Kazakhstan, Bangladesh, Tajikistan, Thailand and Turkey — as well as domestic and international public institutions and construction and engineering firms. Under the main theme "Global Infrastructure Project Cooperation in the Age of AI," the conference will focus on how AI is reshaping the future of construction and transportation infrastructure and on practical avenues for cooperation.

The event is being held in conjunction with the first Korea-Central Asia Summit and will include in-depth discussions on cooperation in transportation and infrastructure with key Central Asian nations. MOUs will also be signed to produce concrete follow-up outcomes across land, urban development and transportation sectors.

The opening ceremony on the first day will lay out a vision for the future of the global construction industry driven by AI. Opening remarks by Han Man-hee, chairman of the Overseas Construction Association of Korea, and a welcoming address by Land, Infrastructure and Transport Minister Kim Yun-deok will be followed by two keynote presentations: one on how AI and technological innovation are transforming the global construction market and strategies for the future, by Jeff Rubenstone, deputy editor of Engineering News-Record; and another on the convergence of AI and global infrastructure and the direction of cross-industry cooperation, by Hwang Tae-hwan, executive vice president of Samsung Electronics.

Ministers from participating countries will discuss strategic cooperation frameworks, while an AI and energy infrastructure seminar will explore strategies for building AI data centers and managing large-scale energy transitions.

Major South Korean institutions taking part include Korea National Railway, Korail, Korea Expressway Corporation, Incheon International Airport Corporation, Korea Land and Housing Corporation and Korea Overseas Infrastructure and Urban Development Corporation. Multilateral development banks attending to support overseas investment and development projects include the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank, the Central American Bank for Economic Integration, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank.

"The spread of AI technology is ushering in a shift in the global infrastructure market toward infrastructure that integrates advanced technology and services," Minister Kim said. "I hope that through this GICC, Korea — which has built up technology and experience in smart cities, intelligent transportation systems and other fields on the strength of its world-class ICT capabilities — can establish itself as a global partner that meets each country's infrastructure needs."


smh@heraldcorp.com