Qatar and South Korea have further opened new horizons for cooperation. This was reflected when Prime Minister and Interior Minister H E Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani and the visiting Prime Minister of the Republic of Korea, Lee Nak-yeon, witnessed the signing of three memorandums of understanding after an official talks session at the Amiri Diwan yesterday.
During the session, the two sides discussed bilateral ties and means to develop and promote them in different spheres. Following the talks, H E the Prime Minister and Interior Minister and the Prime Minister of the Republic of Korea attended the signing of a memorandum of understanding for cooperation in the legal field between the Ministry of Justice in the State of Qatar and the Ministry of Justice in the Republic of Korea and an MoU for cooperation and academic exchange between Qatar Museums and the National Museum in the Republic of Korea in addition to an action plan regarding security cooperation in the field of training and exchange of expertise between the Ministry of Interior in the State of Qatar and the Korean National Police Agency.
Qatari-South Korean relations are characterized by strength and development. These relations reflected in a series of agreements, memorandums of understanding and strategic cooperation signed between the two countries in the economic, trade, cultural, media, sports and security fields, health care, medical science and air transport, and investment promotion, among others. South Korea is Qatar’s second trading partner. Qatar supplies South Korea with one-third of its LNG consumption under a long-term agreement that will boost stability in South Korea’s industrial and residential energy supplies.
South Korea’s Ambassador to Qatar, Chang-mo Kim, in an interview with The Peninsula in April this year, said that trade volume between the two countries grew by 44 percent to $16.8bn in 2018 from $11.7bn in 2017.
South Korea’s imports from Qatar, which were mainly gas and oil, rose by 45 percent from $11.3bn in 2017 to $16.3bn in 2018. Korea’s exports to Qatar also increased by 21 percent to $526mn in 2018, the Ambassador added. The Ambassador also said the total accumulated figure for Korea’s direct foreign investment in Qatar has reached $71m since the first Korean company entered the Qatari market in 1968.
South Korea exports many goods to Qatar, including automobiles, heavy construction equipment, electrical transformers. Many South Korean companies are active in Qatar, including 34 South Korean companies wholly-owned by South Korean investors with more than $1bn in capital, while there are 115 joint Qatari-South Korea companies with a capital of nearly $2bn. Also, 15 South Korean companies are involved in Qatari infrastructure projects such as Doha Metro, Lusail Expressway, hospitals, power plants, and electricity networks.
The agreements signed yesterday will contribute to cementing the strategic relationship between the two countries.
