A sign with the road name and address on Nov. 5 hangs on a streetlight near the office of Seoul's Jongno-gu District. (Kim Seon Ah)

By Kim Seon Ah

The Ministry of the Interior and Safety has landed a deal worth some USD 330,000 to support the development of Uzbekistan's national address registry, beating out several European countries.

The ministry on Nov. 4 said it was chosen for a technical assistance project to launch a national address registry commissioned by the Cadastre Agency under the Uzbek National Committee for Sustainable Development of Urbanization and Housing Market.

This consulting initiative aims to modernize the legal, institutional and technical foundations needed for the Central Asian country's address administration. Korea beat out France, Spain, Norway, Poland and Hungary for the contract.

Last year, Korea conducted a feasibility study on modernizing the Uzbek address system and signed a memorandum of understanding on related cooperation. This year, Seoul has provided training and consulting for Uzbek officials.

The Korea Land and Geospatial Informatix Corp., the lead contractor for the project, will hold a launch meeting on Nov. 5 in Uzbekistan, followed by an initial field survey and inspection of pilot project sites.

From Nov. 22-28, six Uzbek officials including a Cadastre deputy director general will be invited to Korea for capacity building training in the Korean address system. Seoul will share its experience in developing related laws and institutions and methods for operating an address information management system.

The ministry will use the project to support the entry of Korean companies in information and communications technology and address data into the Uzbek market. It will also help them join follow-up projects to set a national address registry and projects in collaboration with multilateral development banks.

sofiakim218@korea.kr