His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nayhan, Honourable President of the UAE is expected to reach Seoul for meeting his counterpart President Yoon Suk Yeol on Tuesday, 28th May, 2024. The bilateral talks are expected to be very crucial as the two countries would like to extend their ties and make them stronger by advancing cooperation in some key areas.
Agenda of Visit
The areas that are supposed to be in focus are energy and power, current and future trade talks and investment deals in the two countries, and talks about sharing technology advancement and research ideas. Regional and international development plans for both the countries is also expected to be an issue. Thus UAE’s presence in the South East Asian region is expected to grow along with increased participation of Seoul in the United Arab Emirates’s economy and the Middle East.
Historical Relationship between UAE and South Korea
The diplomatic relations between the two countries were formally established on 18th June 1980. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, UAE opened an embassy in Seoul on March 3, 1987 while its counterpart opened its embassy in Abu Dhabi on Dec 5, 1980.
The bilateral ties were strengthened in 2009 leading to a “Strategic Partnership” when South Korea helped Abu Dhabi to build its sole state of the art Nuclear Power Plant in Barakah. The power plant provides clean energy and has our AP-1400 nuclear reactors. Although the State of Qatar has been raising its concerns as its capital city Doha is close enough to the Nuclear Power Plant and in case of an accidental discharge of radioactive material, it can reach Doha in about 5 to 13 hours time.
In 2018, the partnership went up another level into a Special Strategic Relationship to include more dimensions in the exchange ranging from political, economic to cultural fields.
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The relations have also grown through high level meetings and channels of dialogue over the years. The two countries have exchanged several Memorandum of Understanding concerning areas like National Security, Defence, Power Generation, and Nuclear Energy by conducting (2+2) Foreign and Defence vice ministerial meetings and this has resulted in tremendous development for both the countries.
Some Statistics to show the growth of ties between the UAE and RSK
According to the latest statistics released by the Observatory of Economic Complexity, in 2022, UAE exported $14.3 billion worth of components to the Republic of South Korea, the main component being crude oil worth $7.97 billion, refined petroleum worth $4.55 billion, and petroleum gas worth $592 million. During the whole period of 27 years of UAE-RSK relations, UAE’s exports to South Korea have increased at a stable rate of 9.11%, from $1.36 billion in 1995 to $14.3 billion in 2022.
Similarly, the Republic of South Korea exported $4.17 billion worth of products and services in 2022 to the United Arab Emirates, the main components being cars worth $371 million, motor vehicles parts and accessories containing parts of cars, trucks and tractors ($365 million), and defence materials containing explosive ammunition worth $271 million. During the last 27 years, Abu Dhabi’s imports of products and services from Seoul has increased at a rate of 4.35% from $1.35 billion to $4.17 billion in 2022.
