The Presidential Office said on Jan. 21 that economic achievements worth a combined $30.8 billion were made on the back of President Yoon Suk-yeol’s state visit to United Arab Emirates (UAE) and his participation in the World Economic Forum, also known as the Davos Forum.
Senior Presidential Secretary for Policy Planning Lee Kwan-sup, who accompanied President Yoon on an economy-centric summit diplomacy, made the remarks during a media briefing in Switzerland on Jan. 19.
Senior Presidential Secretary Lee said President Yoon’s current visit attached priority to economic affairs, and during President Yoon’s state visit to the UAE, Korea ramped up economic cooperation in overall areas with the UAE, a special strategic partner.
The economy-centric summit diplomacy, accompanied by an economic delegation, led to attracting $30 billion in foreign direct investments and striking 48 MOUs, making the best-ever achievements in Korea’s summit diplomacy history with the UAE.
About 320 businessmen of both sides participated in the Korea-UAE Business Forum and struck MOUs and contracts worth at least $6.1 billion, and Korea and the UAE established the groundwork to upgrade and diversify Korea-UAE economic cooperation.
The two sides signed MOUs on new industries, such as hydrogen, bio, smart farm, digital transformation and metaverse on top of the conventional cooperation areas, such as energy and defense sectors.
President Yoon and UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan toured the Barakah Nuclear Power Plant, being built by Korea, together and the leaders shared the view both countries will create expanded achievements, such as additional cooperation in the nuclear power sector and their joint market entry in third countries.
Senior Presidential Secretary Lee said during Korean and UAE summit talks, that the UAE side, such as UAE state funds, agreed to invest $30 billion into Korean companies in several areas, including energy, nuclear power, hydrogen and defense sectors.
On the other hand, the Korean government promised to support them, and it was put into a joint statement.
Lee said ways of promoting cooperation to invest combined $800 million, including a $300 million registered investment fund by Vestas were discussed at the Davos Forum.
CEO Henric Anderson of Vestas, the global top wind power turbine maker in Denmark, registered a $300 million FDI and decided its Asia and Pacific regional headquarters would be in Korea.
Vesta will produce core equipment for wind power turbines in Korea and export them to the Asian-Pacific area.
The relocation of its Asia and Pacific regional headquarters to Korea is expected to serve as an opportunity to make Korea a wind power production hub in the region, the presidential office said.
Besides, President Yoon delivered a special speech at the Davos Forum in which he suggested ways of solving overall global issues, such as multiple global crises, supply chains, climate.
Korea, UAE Vow to Ramp Up Strategic Partnership
President Yoon on Jan. 15 adopted a joint statement with UAE President, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan on the occasion of President Yoon’s state visit to the Mideast country.
According to the statement, the two nations agreed to further deepen and develop their “special strategic partnership.”
The two sides agreed to bolster strategic cooperation in the four core sectors of the peaceful use of nuclear energy, conventional and clean energy, economy and investment, and defense and defense technology.
The UAE side said in the statement, “As part of the wider Special Strategic Partnership framework, building on the UAE’s confidence in the ROK’s (Republic of Korea) economic strength and growth prospects, the UAE announced a commitment by its sovereign wealth funds to invest $30 billion in strategic sectors in the Republic of Korea.”
In conventional energy, Seoul and Abu Dhabi agreed to form a comprehensive strategic energy partnership to strengthen cooperation in key energy sectors including oil and gas, strategic crude oil reserves, renewable energy, and hydrogen and hydrogen by-products.
The two leaders agreed that the peaceful use of nuclear energy is a core pillar of bilateral cooperation.
The UAE praised the Barakah Nuclear Power Plant, saying the project is “dramatically accelerating the decarbonization of the UAE’s power sector in support of the latter’s pledge to reach Net Zero by 2050.”
Both sides also agreed to expand cooperation in new fields such as small modular reactors through high-level bilateral talks on nuclear power.
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