The Ministry of Intellectual Property of the Republic of Korea (ROK) led by Minister KIM Yong Sun announced that, on November 18, 2025, it exchanged with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Ministry of Economy and Tourism (MOET) the Arrangement on Amending the Memorandum of Understanding on Reinforced Cooperation in the Field of Intellectual Property. It took place at the Presidential Palace, Qasr Al Watan, in Abu Dhabi, on the occasion of the ROK–UAE summit, with the two Heads of State in attendance.

The new arrangement expands and supplements the existing memorandum concluded in January 2023. Notably, it significantly broadens the scope of cooperation to include:

▲ the deployment of artificial intelligence in IP administration;

▲ the commercialization of intellectual property; and

▲ strengthened IP protection and enforcement, such as anti-counterfeiting operations and legal and regulatory cooperation.

Following the summit event, Minister Kim traveled to Dubai for a bilateral meeting with H.E. Abdullah bin Touq Al Marri, Minister of the MOET, UAE. The two sides shared updates on their respective IP policies and discussed future priorities for cooperation. They agreed to organize high-level meetings to regularly consult on key areas of mutual interest including artificial intelligence, IP financing, and IP protection, and committed to deepening collaboration on AI-assisted anti-counterfeiting activities.

The ROK and the UAE have maintained close cooperation in the field of intellectual property for more than a decade, beginning with the signing of a comprehensive IP cooperation MoU in May 2010 and followed by the MoU on cooperation on patent examination signed in February 2014. Korea also assisted the UAE for three years from February 2016 to develop its own patent information system. So far, a total of 19 Korean patent examiners have been dispatched to the UAE, underscoring the long-standing and robust partnership between the two countries in patent examination and other IP-related areas.

Minister Kim said “We look forward to a broader and deeper cooperation to be undertaken going forward between our two ministries which would be backed by the memorandum we signed this time in the summit-level event.” “The Ministry will make continuous efforts to facilitate and expand cooperation with middle-eastern countries,” added Mr. Kim.

Source: https://www.kipo.go.kr/en/engBultnDetail.do?board_id=kiponews&cp=1&pg=1&npp=10&catmenu=ek06_01_01&seq=1813