On November 23-24, NIA President Seang-Tae Kim was in Bogota, Colombia for the Opening Ceremony of the new Information Access Center (IAC) and for a high-level meeting with the Minister of Information and Communication in Bogota.



On November 23rd, NIA President Seang-Tae Kim and Executive Director of NIA’s Global IT Cooperation Division, Jeongwon Yoon attended the Inauguration Ceremony of the new IAC established at the University of UNIMINTO. Also in attendance from the Korean side included the Ambassador of the Colombia Embassy for the Republic of Korea, Hon. Jong-Yun Chu and Deputy Ambassador, Mr. Seung-Tae Hong. From the Colombian side Diego Jaramillo, UNIMINUTO Foundation Chairman, Leonidas Lopez, UNIMINUTO University President, and Luis Fermando Lozano, Ministry of Information and Communication General Director.



After the ceremonial tape-cutting some congratulatory speeches were made by both sides as well as a tour of the new IAC facility. The new IAC at the University of UNIMINTO includes a conference room equipped with audio/video equipment and a teleconference system, an IT training facility and High-speed Internet Public Access Office. Thus, ICT experts’ community, as well as the public will be able to benefit from information technology, improve their IT skills and widely use this as a cooperation ICT tool. The Ministry of Information and Communications in Colombia was responsible for providing the facilities; meanwhile the Korean government financed the construction of the IAC and the purchase of equipment. Mr. Jaramillo mentioned in his remarks his sincere thanks to NIA and the Korean government for providing assistance and mentioned that the Colombian ICT sector would continue to improve by providing information access to the local population.



The next day on November 24th, NIA President and NIA Executive Director Jeongwon Yoon held a meeting with the Minister of Information and Communication, Mr. Diego Molano Vega, Vice Minister, Maria Isabel Mejia and Director General of International Cooperation of the MIC in Colombia, Silvia Valdivieso Diaz. During the meeting the two sides held discussions on the newly opened IAC in which the Minister sincerely thanked the Korean government and NIA for their support in opening the IAC. In addition, Korea’s eGovFrame e-government cooperation was discussed and the possibility of inviting Colombian government ICT officials to learn more about Korea’s open source eGovFrame. Supporting that kind of education, NIA officials also discussed the possibility of the Minister and high-level Colombian officials coming to Korea for an ICT study tour in order to learn and share more between the two countries.



Colombian and NIA officials at the opening ceremony for Comombia- Korea Information Access Center





NIA President Seang-Tae Kim and NIA Executive Director, Jeongwon Yoon, pose for a photo with Colombia’s Minister of Information and Communication, Diego Molano Vega and Vice Minister, Maria Isabel Mejia