Korea selected for Uzbekistan national address registry technical support project

Domestic IT and address-data firms to be backed in overseas expansion, bilateral cooperation framework to follow

Minister of Interior and Safety Yun Ho-jung holds discussions on the establishment and operation of a digital government cooperation center at the Ministry of Digital Technologies building in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, on June 21. [Ministry of Interior and Safety]
Minister of Interior and Safety Yun Ho-jung holds discussions on the establishment and operation of a digital government cooperation center at the Ministry of Digital Technologies building in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, on June 21. [Ministry of Interior and Safety]

South Korea's address system, long shared with other countries through aid programs, has taken its first step as a revenue-generating export contract.

The Ministry of Interior and Safety announced Wednesday that South Korea had been selected for a roughly $330,000 project to provide technical support for building Uzbekistan's national address registry, a contract issued by the Uzbekistan State Committee on Cadastre.

The project is a consulting engagement to modernize the legal, institutional and technical foundations of address administration in Uzbekistan, and was open to bidders worldwide.

South Korea beat out a field of European competitors — including France, Spain, Norway, Poland and Hungary — that remained in contention through the final round of selection.

The government had been laying the groundwork for this win as part of its broader push to take the K-address system overseas, conducting a feasibility study on modernizing Uzbekistan's address system, signing an MOU on address modernization cooperation, and carrying out capacity-building, on-site education and consulting activities.

The Ministry of Interior and Safety said it plans to support the successful completion of the contract and help domestic IT and address-data companies participate in the follow-on main project to build the national address registry, as well as in multilateral development bank-linked projects.

The ministry also plans to support Korean companies in entering the Uzbek market in connection with the address modernization project, and to establish a bilateral exchange and cooperation framework even after the project concludes.

"Winning this Uzbekistan contract is international recognition of the excellence of South Korea's K-address system," Vice Minister of Interior and Safety Kim Min-jae said. "We will continue to strengthen public-private cooperation and support companies in expanding overseas so that K-address can spread to countries around the world as a global standard."


thlee@heraldcorp.com