CJ Group Chairman Lee Jae-hyun visited the United Arab Emirates to assess expansion opportunities in the Middle East market and called for aggressive moves into new territories.
CJ Group announced Thursday that Chairman Lee visited the UAE for about a week starting January 6, exploring business cooperation with key government officials. The visit included senior executives such as CJ Vice Chairwoman Lee Mi-kyung, CJ Corporation CEO Kim Hong-ki, CJ ENM (035760.KS) CEO Yoon Sang-hyun, and CJ Corporation Future Planning Group Head Lee Sun-ho.
This year alone, Lee has actively engaged in global management visits to Japan, the United States, and Europe. His Middle East trip comes about a year after visiting Saudi Arabia in September last year at the official invitation of the Saudi Ministry of Culture, reflecting his high assessment of the region's growth potential.
"We must never miss the K-wave in the high-potential Middle East market and must create new growth engines," Lee said. "To leap forward as a global company leading the lifestyles of people worldwide, we must approach new territory expansion with a sense of urgency and determination."
Lee met with key government figures to explore business cooperation. He discussed cultural and economic cooperation with Khaldoon Al Mubarak, Chairman of Abu Dhabi's Executive Affairs Authority and CEO of sovereign wealth fund Mubadala. Lee also held meetings with Mohamed Al Mubarak, Chairman of Abu Dhabi's Department of Culture and Tourism, and Abdullah Al Hamad, Chairman of the UAE National Media Office, discussing specific local cooperation possibilities and business strategies across media, content, tourism, and sports.
Additionally, Lee met with Gregory Yep, CEO of CJ CheilJedang's (097950.KS) food business division, and local executives to intensively discuss halal food growth strategies.
Following Lee's visit, CJ plans to expand its business across food, entertainment, and beauty sectors in the Middle East. CJ CheilJedang's strategy is to build a halal food portfolio centered on UAE and Saudi Arabia as regional hubs, and accelerate K-food business through country and product lineup expansion. CJ Group signed memorandums of understanding on food and beauty business during the Korea-UAE summit last month.
Specifically, CJ has designated halal-certified "Bibigo Seaweed Snacks" and "Fried Noodles" as strategic products for the Middle East and will expand distribution channel presence through cooperation with UAE company Al Khayat Investments (AKI). Olive Young plans to leverage its product sourcing capabilities and the network of Life Healthcare Group (LHG), a leading Middle East healthcare distributor, to support promising K-beauty brands' market entry and sales expansion.
CJ ENM will expand operations through its locally established subsidiary "CJ ENM Middle East," cooperating with local broadcasters and content companies on live concerts and discovering local star intellectual property. Through partnerships with government agencies and local media companies, CJ plans to promote live events such as KCON and engage in content production, investment support, and global production infrastructure development.
Meanwhile, Lee hosted UAE Minister of Culture Salem bin Khalid Al Qassimi and UAE Ambassador to Korea Abdullah Saif Al Nuaimi at CJ's human resources center in Pildong, Seoul, on January 16. Both sides discussed premium content production and investment, artificial intelligence technology utilization, and K-beauty export cooperation.
"Chairman Lee personally visited key global locations across Asia, the Americas, Europe, and now the Middle East this year, emphasizing the importance of securing global future growth engines," a CJ Group official said. "In 2026, we will accelerate new market expansion to lead the lifestyles of people worldwide."
