RIYADH — President Park Geun-hye on Wednesday met business magnates and investors in the capital city of Saudi Arabia, to forge fresh business relations amid falling oil prices and a slowing Korean economy.
At a forum hosted by Korean and Saudi Arabian business representatives, Park called for joint efforts to upgrade economic relations and to shift focus from heavy industries to renewable energy, medical services and investments.
In particular, the president urged Saudi investors to seek joint measures to enter emerging markets in the Middle East and Africa with South Korean firms.
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| (Yonhap) |
During the forum, business leaders from the two countries signed memoranda of understanding on a joint study on desalination of sea water and development in the fields of construction, automobile and other industries. Saudi’s Public Investment Fund and POSCO Engineering and Construction, an affiliate of the South Korean steel giant, signed an MOU to help the Gulf nation develop its own car industry.
About 300 business leaders attended the forum, including Saudi Minister of Commerce and Industry Tawfiq bin Fawzan Al Rabiah and Abdullatif bin Ahmed Al Othman, governor of Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority.
Later in the afternoon, Park was set to hold talks with Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Abdulaziz Al Saud, chairman of Kingdom Holding Co., a Riyadh-based international investment firm, and Hashim Yamani, head of Saudi Arabia’s renewable energy agency KA CARE — meetings meant to build up practical cooperation at the business level.
The meetings came a day after she held a summit with the newly crowned King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud. The two leaders agreed to explore opportunities to build Korean-made mid-sized nuclear reactors in the Gulf nations — projects that may be worth as much as $2 billion. They also agreed to strengthen cooperation in creative economy, medical services and information technology.
The agreement reached by the two sides on Tuesday was expected to open opportunities for Korean firms to participate in the kingdom’s nuclear reactor projects. Under the agreement, the two agreed to build Korea’s SMART reactors in the Gulf nations and commercialize its technology in order to jointly enter the global market.
The SMART reactors, designed by the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, were developed to target the Middle East countries as they generate electric power and also desalinate seawater.
By Cho Chung-un
Korea Herald correspondent
(christory@heraldcorp.com)
