ABU DHABI ― Leaders of South Korea and the United Arab Emirates agreed on Thursday to upgrade bilateral relations by expanding cooperation in new areas of medical service, intellectual property, culture, agriculture and renewable energy.
At the summit, President Park Geun-hye and Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, crown prince of Abu Dhabi, observed the signing of six memorandums of understanding on establishing a Korean cultural center in the Gulf state, expanding the export of Korean-made halal food and agricultural products.
The global market for halal food, which is produced or processed under Islamic dietary guidelines, is expected to grow to $1.62 trillion in 2018 from $1.08 trillion in 2012, according to officials.
Korean food companies have faced difficulties in exporting their products to the Middle East and other Islamic countries due to a lack of market information and low recognition of Korean brands in the regions.
Under the agreement, the two sides will work together to share market info and establish a halal food certificate system, to open doors for Korean firms seeking international opportunities. If realized, they are expected to export $1.2 billion worth of food products by 2017, officials said.
“The agreement is expected to help Korean agricultural products make inroads into the Middle East for the first time,” said An Chong-bum, senior presidential secretary for economy.
The two countries are also set to seek opportunities to enter emerging markets in Africa and the Middle East by combining South Korean nuclear reactor technology with the UAE’s funding power.
On the occasion of Park’s visit to the wealthy Gulf nation, officials from two countries also signed separate MOUs to expand cooperation in the fields of medical service, oil exploration and education.
The summit on Thursday was their third meeting after Park entered office in early 2013.
This is Park’s second visit to the wealthy Gulf state. The South Korean president visited the UAE last year for a ceremony marking the installation of a Korean-built nuclear reactor at a power plant under construction in Barakah, some 300 kilometers west of Abu Dhabi.
South Korea signed a final agreement in 2009 to build four nuclear reactors. The project worth $20.4 billion marked South Korea’s first exports of nuclear reactors.
Park said in an interview with Emirates News Agency that the construction of a nuclear power plant by Korean firms in Barakah carries “great symbolic significance” as it has laid the groundwork for bilateral cooperation for “the next hundred years.”
The president also called for joint efforts to advance the bilateral ties by shifting the focus from heavy industries to high-value-added industries.
“Rather than remaining content with what we have achieved thus far, we are eager to expand the sphere of cooperation to a much broader range of areas, including health care, intellectual property, IT and new and renewable energy,” she said.
The UAE is her third destination of the four-nation trip to the Middle East. Park leaves for Qatar on Friday.
By Cho Chung-un, Korea Herald correspondent
(christory@heraldcorp.com)
At the summit, President Park Geun-hye and Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, crown prince of Abu Dhabi, observed the signing of six memorandums of understanding on establishing a Korean cultural center in the Gulf state, expanding the export of Korean-made halal food and agricultural products.
The global market for halal food, which is produced or processed under Islamic dietary guidelines, is expected to grow to $1.62 trillion in 2018 from $1.08 trillion in 2012, according to officials.
Korean food companies have faced difficulties in exporting their products to the Middle East and other Islamic countries due to a lack of market information and low recognition of Korean brands in the regions.
Under the agreement, the two sides will work together to share market info and establish a halal food certificate system, to open doors for Korean firms seeking international opportunities. If realized, they are expected to export $1.2 billion worth of food products by 2017, officials said.
“The agreement is expected to help Korean agricultural products make inroads into the Middle East for the first time,” said An Chong-bum, senior presidential secretary for economy.
The two countries are also set to seek opportunities to enter emerging markets in Africa and the Middle East by combining South Korean nuclear reactor technology with the UAE’s funding power.
On the occasion of Park’s visit to the wealthy Gulf nation, officials from two countries also signed separate MOUs to expand cooperation in the fields of medical service, oil exploration and education.
The summit on Thursday was their third meeting after Park entered office in early 2013.
This is Park’s second visit to the wealthy Gulf state. The South Korean president visited the UAE last year for a ceremony marking the installation of a Korean-built nuclear reactor at a power plant under construction in Barakah, some 300 kilometers west of Abu Dhabi.
South Korea signed a final agreement in 2009 to build four nuclear reactors. The project worth $20.4 billion marked South Korea’s first exports of nuclear reactors.
Park said in an interview with Emirates News Agency that the construction of a nuclear power plant by Korean firms in Barakah carries “great symbolic significance” as it has laid the groundwork for bilateral cooperation for “the next hundred years.”
The president also called for joint efforts to advance the bilateral ties by shifting the focus from heavy industries to high-value-added industries.
“Rather than remaining content with what we have achieved thus far, we are eager to expand the sphere of cooperation to a much broader range of areas, including health care, intellectual property, IT and new and renewable energy,” she said.
The UAE is her third destination of the four-nation trip to the Middle East. Park leaves for Qatar on Friday.
By Cho Chung-un, Korea Herald correspondent
(christory@heraldcorp.com)
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