Interior ministry sends AI delegation to Romania, Georgia

South Korea's interior ministry said Monday it will send an "AI government delegation" to Romania and Georgia from Sept. 29 to Oct. 4 to discuss public-sector innovation using artificial intelligence with members of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC) organization.

The delegation will be led by the director of the ministry's AI Government Cooperation Division and will include officials from the Korea Customs Service, the Korea Minting and Security Printing Corporation, the Korea Local Information Research and Development Institute, the National Information Society Agency and the foreign ministry.

In Romania, the delegation will hold the Korea-Romania AI Government Policy Forum on Sept. 30, presenting Korean policies and services including the national AI strategy, local governments' use of AI and regional informatization, digital ID and the UNI-PASS electronic customs clearance system.

A second forum is scheduled for Oct. 2 in Tbilisi, Georgia, with the Georgian deputy justice minister among the participants. The two sides will discuss policy directions for applying AI to administration and public services and look at possible cooperation in areas such as digital ID and data-driven administration.

The trip builds on a memorandum of understanding on digital government cooperation signed after the Georgian justice minister's visit to Korea on Sept. 8. Under that agreement, Korea plans to establish and operate a digital government cooperation center in Georgia for three years, from 2026 to 2028.

"This dispatch of the AI government delegation will be a good opportunity to effectively share Korea's excellent policies and technological capabilities," said Hwang Kyu-cheol, head of the ministry's AI Government Office. "We will continue to actively discover and expand cooperation demand with foreign governments and work to establish ourselves as one of the top three AI powers."