'Solid bilateral ties’ between South Korea-UAE says, Chairman of KITA

 

A South Korean official said on Sunday that since diplomatic ties were established between the United Arab Emirates and South Korea during the early 1980s, the two countries have maintained strong bilateral ties.

The chairman of the Korea International Trade Association(KITA), Kim Young-ju, also said that the two countries have established strategic partnership since the time Moon Jae-in, the President of South Korea, made an official visit in 2018 to the UAE.

Young-Ju revealed in an interview to WAM, a news agency, that the two countries share a lot of commonalities. The official said that both the countries shared a common ideal when it comes to growth and development. On one side where South Korea focused on being an economic powerhouse, UAE has gained a lot of attraction with its skyscrapers and also having the largest GDP per capita in the world. 

“The UAE is a key economic partner of South Korea, and the value of their trade exchange exceeded US$12.5 billion in 2019, and over 200 Korean companies are currently operating in the UAE,” he said in the interview.

He also spoke about the strategic partnership that came as a result of Abu Dhabi Chamber of Commerce and Industry establishing an office in Seoul, capital of South Korea in 2015. With the establishment of this office, the two countries strengthened economic bilateral ties and reached out to the largest number of Korean investors. It was later that the two countries signed the agreement.

The two organisations have conducted a lot of seminars together, which were essentially focused on investment, and it was attended by government authorities of the UAE and business leaders. Through these seminars, UAE was promoted as the business ub in the Middle East and the North African region.

KITA has also been driving the sustainable development plan with the chamber under its Memorandum of Understanding. He further noted, “ KITA has also provided promising opportunities to the business communities from both countries, as well as facilitated the exchange of expertise and created communication opportunities between governments, private sector establishments and business leaders.”

He revealed that the Korean side aims to invest in new commercial activities in the UAE. ‘New Green Deal’ was recently announced by South Korea which has similar objectives as the UAE’s ‘Next Fifty Years’ initiative. The two strategies aim to shape the future based out of Artificial Intelligence and still be in line with the environment.

Young-ju also said that the two countries will also be sharing their experiences and objectives when it comes to developing small and medium sized enterprises and also intensify their focus on healthcare.