South Korean President Park Geun-hye and Saudi Minister of Finance Ibrahim Al-Assaf attend the Saudi-Korean Business Forum organized by the Council of Saudi Chambers in Riyadh on Wednesday. — SPA Saudi Gazette report
RIYADH — Saudi Arabia and South Korea signed two more memoranda of understanding here on Wednesday as South Korean President Park Geun-hye stressed the importance of her country's relations with the Kingdom, which date back nearly 53 years. In the presence of Minister of Finance and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the General Investment Fund Ibrahim Al-Assaf, the secretary-general of the Fund Abdulrahman Al-Mufdhi signed a memorandum of understanding with POSCO Company to set up a mechanism for the transfer of technology and expertise to the Kingdom. POSCO is a leader in many areas such as the steel industry, establishment of petrochemical plants, infrastructure planning and development, engineering and construction, design and construction of roads and railways, and water desalination and treatment. Another agreement was signed between the Saline Water Conversion Corporation and South Korea's Doosan Group in water desalination. Addressing the Saudi-Korean Business Forum organized by the Council of Saudi Chambers in Riyadh on Wednesday, the South Korean president said bilateral relations contributed to strengthening the two countries' economies and the Saudi market has provided opportunities for the growth of South Korean companies specialized in infrastructure. The Forum was attended was Minister of Finance Ibrahim Al-Assaf, Minister of Commerce and Industry Tawfiq Al-Rabiah, Governor of Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (SAGIA) Abdullatif Al-Othman, and a number of officials of the two countries. President Park expressed pride in her country being the fourth trade partner of the Kingdom. She said that her country is ready to contribute to the transfer of expertise and technology to the development of Saudi industries and help achieve the Kingdom's plan to reduce dependence on oil in the future and enhance the services sector and industries in the Kingdom. The Korean president called on businesses and governments of the two countries to strengthen cooperation in traditional and renewable energy and building power plants and to contribute to the sectors of electricity, water and nuclear power reactors, which will need huge financial investments in major projects which will be implemented over the next 20 years. She looked forward to strengthening the existing cooperation to include the sectors of health and education services, information technology, the pharmaceutical industry and other services needed by the Saudi market. Addressing the Forum, Minister of Commerce and Industry Tawfiq Al-Rabiah said the volume of trade exchange between the two countries amounted last year to SR170 billion, where the Kingdom's exports to South Korea were worth SR133 billion and imports worth SR 37 billion. He said there are 120 Saudi-Korean joint ventures worth nearly $1billion, of which 20% are industrial projects and the remaining are non-industrial projects in the Kingdom. SAGIA Governor Al-Othman said the Kingdom considers South Korea as one of the most important countries to attract investment from. An agreement to encourage and protect investment between the two countries was signed on April 4, 2002, he said, adding that total Korean investments in the Kingdom were 243 projects by the end of 2014 with an investment at a total value of SR3.4 billion.
