On Tuesday, South Korea’s deputy foreign minister told Arab News that the country is interested in realising additional joint projects with Saudi Arabia as Korean diplomats prepare for a possible high-level visit to the Kingdom later this year.
When Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman visited Seoul in November for the first time since June 2019, he and South Korea’s President Yoon Suk-yeol made a commitment to strengthen ties between their countries.
Multibillion-dollar bilateral cooperation in space technology, energy, infrastructure, and the Kingdom’s giga-project NEOM were all made possible by their meeting, and Yoon stated after the talks that more collaboration was planned as it was time to “take the relationship to a new level through Saudi Vision 2030.”
Choi Youngsam, South Korea’s deputy foreign minister, told Arab News at the World Journalists Conference 2023 in Seoul, “Our cooperation and partnership with Saudi Arabia is very important.”
Choi remarked, “With Saudi Arabia, we share interests in many economic fields, including the construction field and the area of cutting-edge technology.”
“We do hope that our two countries can realise more comprehensive cooperative projects.”
In November, Crown Prince Mohammed and President Yoon agreed to elevate bilateral ties to the level of a “future-oriented strategic partnership” and form a dedicated committee to advance joint endeavours.
There were 26 agreements signed between Saudi companies and their Korean counterparts in various projects, including clean energy and building in NEOM, the Saudi smart city initiative directed by the crown prince, during the visit in November, which also coincided with the Korea-Saudi Investment Forum.
Yoon has previously expressed his desire for South Korean firms to take part in Saudi megaprojects like NEOM, noting that such partnerships carry the promise of revitalising the Korean economy.
South Korea’s strong economic growth in the 1970s was supported by a preceding building boom in the Middle East.
Choi stated that arrangements were being made by Korean diplomats to follow up on the crown prince’s visit.
There will be a significant follow-up trip to Saudi Arabia this year. We are now engaged in diplomatic discussions.
