Saudi Arabia, which is intent to implement a blueprint to rebuild the nation to secure new growth engines, is teaming up with CJ Group to cash in on the so-called K-culture.
CJ Group said on Sept. 25 the business group visited Saudi Arabia at the invitation of the Saudi government for three days from Sept. 4 and held a series of meetings with Saudi prominent figures.
Saudi Arabia’s participants of the meetings with CJ Group, were the minister and the vice minister of the Saudi Ministry of Tourism, the head of the General Entertainment Agency (GEA), the chief of the Saudi Arabia Tourism Authority and deputy minister of the Ministry of Investment (MISA).
They are known to be among the key players of the so-called Saudi Vision 2030.
CJ Group also dispatched CJ Group Chairman Lee Jay-hyun and CEOs of the group’s mainstay businesses, including CJ Corp.
President Kim Hong-ki, President Yoon Sang-hyun of CJ ENM, and Jung Jong-hwan, head of Global Integration at CJ ENM.
Industrial analysts say that Saudi Arabia, which is trying to make the most of opportunities to reduce its dependence on oil, is paying its attention to capitalize on K-culture success stories and knowhow to make Saudi Arabia a country of attracting more people and more businesses.
CJ Group Chairman Lee makes an inspection tour of a global distribution center, being built by CJ Logistics in Riyadh, on Sept. 4.
The CJ Group leaders, including Chairman Lee, held separate meetings with leaders of such Saudi government agencies as the Saudi Ministry of Tourism, GEA and MISA during their visit.
Both sides focused on discussing how to promote collaboration on the development of the cultural industry, CJ officials said.
Chairman Lee said he was impressed with the depth and growth possibility of Saudi Arabia’s cultural industry.
“If CJ Group’s cultural industry expertise in segments such as entertainment and music is combined with Saudi’s cultural resources and potential power, we can create unique synergies in the global market,” Chairman Lee said.
Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Culture also extended an invitation to visit the ancient city of AlUla where the CJ delegation toured AlUla Studios, a film production studio with a 25,000-square-foot sound stage, and explored ways to leverage local infrastructure to collaborate on content creation and tourism.
It was learned that the Saudi government discussed ways of collaborating in the content production using local infrastructure and the tourism section with CJ Group.
In 2022, CJ ENM signed an MOU with the Saudi Ministry of Culture Ministry. CJ Group has consistently forged friendly ties with Riyadh where it successfully hosted its iconic K-pop event KCON for two years in a row — in 2022 and 2023 — in partnership with the Saudi Ministry of Culture.
The Chairman also had a meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud during his visit to Korea back in 2022.
“CJ Group has been maintaining a close partnership with Saudi Arabia especially in the cultural sectors and this visit to Riyadh can be a new opportunity for the company,” said a CJ Group official.
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