South Korea's science ministry said Wednesday it has opened an information technology research center with its Romanian counterpart to conduct a handful of IT projects in the Eastern European country over the next three years.

Under the deal signed between South Korea's Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning and Romania's Ministry of Communications and Information Society, the Bucharest-based center will map out pilot projects regarding the IT industry and push ahead with them.

The two have agreed to inject US$1 million each to fund such projects, the South Korean ministry said in the release.

The key areas of focus will cover the expansion of broadband networks and the improvement of public key infrastructure (PKI) and information securities. PKI refers to a technology that manages financial transactions online.

"Through the establishment of the IT cooperation center in Romania, we hope the two countries will be able to forge deeper ties in the technology industry," the South Korean ministry said.

The ministry also said Romania has one of the fastest growing IT markets on the back of full-fledged governmental support, adding South Korean technology companies can also seek business opportunities through the center.

It added that Romania can act as a bridgehead for the firms to tap deeper into the European market, as they can expand shipments of verified IT solutions to surrounding nations.

The ministry added it has invited the Romanian counterpart to the 19th International Telecommunications Union (ITU) Plenipotentiary Conference slated to be held in Busan, located 453 kilometers southeast of the capital, from Oct. 20 through Nov. 7.

The ministry plans to open a similar research cooperation center in Colombia in November. It has also conducted three-year projects in Mexico, Chile, Turkey, South Africa, Bulgaria and Vietnam since 2003. (Yonhap)