Korea and Italy have joined hands to drive artificial intelligence (AI) innovation in public procurement.
The Public Procurement Service (PPS) said on the 2nd that it had signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) online with Marco Reggiani, president of Italy's federal procurement agency Consip, for cooperation in the public procurement sector.
The PPS and Consip have led the Multilateral Meeting on Government Procurement (MMGP), a consultative body of central procurement agencies worldwide, since 2009.
Since signing their first MOU in 2008, the two agencies have maintained friendly cooperative relations to advance public procurement through five renewals. This latest MOU renewal began with a proposal from the Italian side, which had been impressed by Korea's next-generation Korea ON-line E-Procurement System (KONEPS) at last year's MMGP, and will strengthen cooperative ties while identifying new areas of collaboration in the AI transition era.
The two sides plan to exchange cases of AI-based digital procurement innovation and operational know-how for new electronic procurement systems, while also jointly identifying best practices in innovative procurement and green procurement. The outcomes of this cooperation will be shared with the international community through bilateral and multilateral workshops, contributing to the development of global public procurement.
In the second half of the year, at Consip's proposal, the heads of the two agencies will meet in person to discuss not only the broader direction of cooperation but also detailed measures such as exchanges of procurement companies and specialized personnel.
"Building on the trust accumulated between Italy and Korea over the past 19 years, this will serve as a new starting point for the two countries to open the future of public procurement together in the AI era," PPS Administrator Baek Seung-bo said.
