Seoul: South Korean tech giant Naver Corp. said Monday it will establish a joint venture with Saudi Arabia's state housing company to collaborate for digital twin platform projects in the Middle East. Naver and Saudi Arabia's National Housing Company signed a memorandum of understanding for the establishment of the joint venture during Cityscape Global 2024, a Middle Eastern real estate convention, held in Riyadh last week, according to the Korean company. According to Yonhap News Agency, digital twin platforms, which provide virtual representations of a real world entity or space, can be used as foundation models in creating smart cities and public digital services, including urban planning, monitoring, and predicting natural disasters. The envisioned joint venture will be in charge of Naver's digital twin platform business and other projects, such as developing a city monitoring platform and map application for public administration, in the Middle East. Last year, the operator of South Korea's largest int ernet portal won a deal with the Saudi Arabian government to create a digital twin platform for Riyadh and four other Saudi cities.