South Korean President Moon Jae-in (L) and Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan speak to each other in a signing ceremony for new memoranda of understanding between their countries, held shortly after their bilateral summit in Abu Dhabi on March 25, 2018. (image: Yonhap)
ABU DHABI, Mar. 27 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korean firms may expect to cinch up to US$25 billion in new energy development projects in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan has told the visiting South Korean president, South Korea’s presidential office Cheong Wa Dae said Tuesday.
The assurance was made in a bilateral summit Sunday between the UAE leader and President Moon Jae-in, according to Cheong Wa Dae officials.
The amount was not offered in detailed projects, but in a sum, they said, adding the crown prince had specifically instructed UAE officials at the summit to make sure such an amount will go to South Korean firms.
Such an instruction came shortly after the two leaders agreed to upgrade their countries’ relationship to a “special strategic partnership.”
The countries established diplomatic ties in 1980. They were upgraded to a strategic partnership in 2009 when South Korea won a US$19 billion deal to build four nuclear reactors in Barakah, UAE.
The amount will mark a sharp increase from around $21 billion worth of UAE projects won by South Korean companies between 2009 and 2016, Cheong Wa Dae officials said, calling the crown prince’s offer a proof of success in Moon’s trip here.
The South Korean leader arrived here Saturday on a four-day official visit.
“The fact that they mentioned how much they will give us immediately after the summit is very exceptional. The fact that they said it was okay to disclose such a special cooperative relationship with South Korea also has significance in that it displayed their confidence in the special relationship with South Korea,” a Cheong Wa Dae official told reporters.
Moon is set to wrap up his four-day trip here later in the day after holding talks with Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, prime minister of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and ruler of Dubai.
(Yonhap)
