Kingdom, Korea boost industrial cooperation

Saudi Arabia and South Korea have decided to further strengthen bilateral cooperation in industrial sectors. They propose to do this by holding bi-annual industrial cooperation meetings.
Joo Hyung-hwan, South Korean minister for trade, industry and energy, met his Saudi counterpart Khalid Al-Falih in Seoul on Friday and they agreed to hold bi-annual meetings to strengthen cooperation in industrial sectors. Youngjae Kim, counselor and spokesman at the Embassy of South Korea hered confirmed this on Sunday.
During the meeting, the two ministers agreed that cooperation should be expanded to cover sectors like automobile, shipbuilding, electronics and infrastructure from oil trade investments, the diplomat said.
South Korean automobile giant Hyundai Heavy Industries signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) last November with Saudi Aramco for jointly developing a shipyard and a ship engine factory in the Kingdom.
Saudi Arabia and South Korea have been enjoying very cordial relations with regular expertise exchange.
Saudi Arabia is working closely with South Korea on hospital information system (HIS) and the Far East Asian nation will assist the Kingdom in setting up the Korea-developed HIS at its state-run hospitals.
Based on the trust relationship, the two countries now plan to expand cooperation to other sectors such as shipbuilding, petrochemicals and new energy as the Kingdom is looking forward to diversify its economy with Vision 2030.
The Kingdom is seeking cooperation with South Korea for its ambitious Vision 2030 program, spearheaded by the Council of Economic and Development Affairs (CEDA) chaired by Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, which will also help promote broader cooperation among the two trusted partners and further bolster bilateral cooperation.
The diplomat added that Saudi Arabia is of strategic importance to Korea. The country is importing about 30 percent of its oil from the Kingdom.
The Kingdom is also Korea's sixth-biggest trading partner globally and its top trading partner in the Middle East.

During her visit to the Kingdom last year, South Korean President Park Geun-hye held talks with Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman and senior ministers to further enhance bilateral cooperation.
Her high-profile visit was followed by South Korean Prime Minister Hwang-Kyo-ahn in May this year.
South Korea, a former war-ravaged country that has emerged as a major global economic player, is on the verge of becoming an optimum partner for the Kingdom on its road to rapid development under National Transformation Program (NTP-2020).

Source: Arab News