Busan Waterworks Headquarters and Ho Chi Minh City's Saigon Water Corporation to Cooperate on AI Technology Exchange

[Financial News] The Busan Metropolitan City Waterworks Headquarters will step up cooperation with Ho Chi Minh City's Saigon Water Corporation on AI technology exchanges related to smart water network management and other areas. 
The headquarters said on the 22nd that its delegation had visited Saigon Water Corporation in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, from the 12th to the 16th and held the 17th Administrative and Technical Exchange Meeting. 
The meeting has been held regularly since 2004 to foster friendly ties through administrative and technical exchanges in the water supply sector.
This year, the meeting was held at the Thu Duc Water Treatment Plant in Ho Chi Minh City and Ben Thanh Water Supply Company, among other venues, with topics including digital transformation and development directions, smart water network management, and improving the revenue water ratio through water quality testing.
About 50 people took part, including headquarters head Kim Byeong-gi and other members of the delegation, as well as Saigon Water Corporation President Bui Thanh Giang and other company officials.
The delegation explained its initiative to introduce AI into water supply operations, reached a strong consensus with its counterparts at Saigon Water Corporation, and agreed to pursue follow-up technical exchanges.
The initiative to introduce AI into water supply operations aims to reduce costs across the organization and streamline management by establishing AI-enabled water treatment plants and smart water network management systems. This year, the headquarters was selected as the sole local-government partner for a public cooperation project run by the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), and has begun in earnest to develop a Busan-style official development assistance (ODA) project model.
The two sides also agreed to jointly develop sensors to detect hazardous substances such as heavy metals, field-test them in the Dong Nai and Saigon rivers near Ho Chi Minh City and the Nakdong River, and develop and exchange AI-based smart water networks as a joint technology.
Before the meeting, the two organizations also signed a memorandum of understanding to formalize their cooperation framework. Under the agreement, they will establish a framework for cooperation in the water supply sector to promote mutual growth, including the development of sustainable water supply infrastructure, technology application and digital transformation, the creation of digital business models in the sector, and the development of high-quality human resources.
Kim Byeong-gi, head of the Busan Metropolitan City Waterworks Headquarters, said, “This memorandum of understanding and the meeting will be the first step toward enabling the two organizations to share policies and technologies in the water supply sector and expand personnel exchanges and joint research,” adding, “We will continue sustainable exchanges and cooperation across a range of fields.”
[email protected] Kwon Byeong-seok Reporter