President Park Geun-hye wrapped up her three-day state visit to Iran on May 4 in which she held a summit with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani as well as attending economic and cultural events.
President Park and Iranian President Rouhani adopted the Joint Statement on the Comprehensive Partnership between the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Republic of Korea, the first joint statement following the establishment of diplomatic relations in 1962. In the statement, the two sides reconfirmed their commitment to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and denuclearization. They also reached a consensus on the principle of peaceful unification of the Korean Peninsula.
In a joint news conference following the summit, President Park said the first Korean presidential visit to Iran since the establishment of diplomatic ties 54 years ago, is a significant milestone between the two countries. He expressed hope the two countries would flesh out pacts in diverse fields and MOUs between institutions to move forward to detailed cooperation.
Stressing the need for personnel and cultural exchanges to further the development of bilateral ties in a long-term perspective, President Park said both countries have agreed to open a cultural center and designate the year 2017 as the Korean-Iranian cultural exchange year.
On the economic front, a total of 66 MOUs, including those that could lead to deals worth about 42 trillion won, or US$37.1 billion, were signed, the largest-ever in economic diplomacy. An economic delegation consisting of 236 business leaders accompanied the President on her state visit, which laid a viable foundation for Korean businesses to advance to the Iranian market, serving as a catalyst to generate a second Middle Eastern boom, ahead of their competitors.
Some 123 Korean companies and 494 Iranian businesses took part in one-on-one business meetings and produced 31 deals worth 611.4 billion won, which is the best result among the 16 one-on-one business meetings held overseas since March 2015.
President Park also briefed the Cheong Wa Dae press corps accompanying her in the presidential plane before departing for Korea. Noting that the visit was an excellent opportunity to create a second “Middle Eastern boom,” the president said that she would endeavor to ensure it becomes a catalyst to spur exports and make an economic leap.
President Park and Iranian President Rouhani shared the need for both countries to restore bilateral trade volumes to the pre-sanction levels during their summit talk in Tehran on May 2.
President Park stressed the need for restoring bilateral trade volumes, now one-third of the previous levels. In return, President Rouhani offered to expand bilateral trade volumes to more than $30 billion within five years and asked for Korean companies to participate in such areas as infrastructure. President Park said Korea has prepared a $25 billion financing package to finance joint projects, the largest-ever extended to a single country. In return, President Rouhani extended whole-heartedly thanks.
As to President Park’s offer to expand cooperation in such new industries as health/medical care, ICT and energy, President Rouhani expressed hope the two countries would cooperate in such areas as electric vehicles, agricultural machinery, sewage systems and waste water treatment. In particular, President Park called for aggressive collaboration in both the EV sector and eco-friendly energy towns and sea desalination.
President Park expressed hope the two countries would regularize foreign ministers’ meeting and the joint economic committee meetings. She also stressed the need for expanding exchanges in the cultural and educational fields.
President Park Attends Korea-Iran Business Forum
President Park attended the Korea-Iran Business Forum held in Tehran in the morning of May 3. In her remarks to the forum, she proposed measures to expand bilateral economic cooperation with the lifting of economic sanctions against Iran as a catalyst.
President Park began by saying that she was pleased at the opening of the Business Forum in Tehran where the historic culture of the Silk Road is still vibrant. She went on to say that ever since the era of Ancient Persia and the Silla Kingdom until today, Iran and Korea have built up special relations based on mutual trust and friendship.
Next, President Park emphasized the need to revitalize trade and diversify cooperation to encompass investment and construction of such infrastructure projects as railways, airports and water management and energy facilities as well as various other sectors, including healthcare, medical services, culture and information and communications technology.
The President went on to say that the Korean Government would support speedy customs clearance of imports and exports on the strength of the agreement on mutual customs service assistance between the two countries’ customs service authorities, which was signed on the occasion of her state visit. The president also expressed the hope that investments between the two nations would resume in earnest by further bolstering cooperation through the exchange of relevant information, among other things, on the basis of the MOU between KOTRA and the Organization For Investment, Economic and Technical Assistance Of Iran (OIETAI).
