South Korea's National Information Society Agency (NIA) and the Ministry of Science and ICT held an opening ceremony for an information access center in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on Jan. 16, NIA said on Jan. 19.

The information access center is a programme in which South Korea supports digital infrastructure and education to improve access to information in developing countries. The programme, launched in 2002, now operates 61 centers in 46 countries and is used by about 500,000 people a year on average.

Ethiopia is a country that is taking a leading role in Africa in setting a national agenda using digital and AI. The Ministry of Innovation and Technology (MINT) is the government ministry responsible for Ethiopia’s digital transformation.

The center established at MINT aims to contribute to implementing Ethiopia’s national agenda, “Digital Ethiopia 2030,” and to strengthen the digital capabilities of central government officials. It was set up with modern digital infrastructure, including an AI development center equipped with 5 high-performance GPU workstations, a digital training room and a digital meeting room, for use by a range of users.

In particular, it will actively support the first deployment of domestically made AI workstations equipped with a Korean-style large language model, so it can serve as a hub for South Korean AI companies entering developing countries.

Some 60 senior officials from the two countries attended the opening ceremony, including NIA President Hwang Jong-sung, Ethiopia’s Minister of Innovation and Technology Belete Molla, and South Korean Ambassador to Ethiopia Jeong Kang, to celebrate the launch of the center.

Minister Belete Molla, who attended the ceremony, said, "Demand by Ethiopian ICT companies to use the center is already increasing explosively, so expectations are high for developing AI models based on the center and building AI training data."