Qatar and South Korea on Monday signed a number of memorandums of understanding across multiple sectors of strategic importance taking the strong and historical bilateral ties to greater heights.
His Highness the Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, who was on his fourth official visit to South Korea, and South Korean President Moon Jae-in witnessed the signing ceremony at the Blue House, the Presidential Palace in Seoul, Qatar News Agency reported.
One of the MoUs was for co-operation in the smart agriculture field. It was signed between Qatar’s Ministry of Municipality and Environment and South Korea’s Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. The aim is to develop the smart agriculture industry, co-operate in the field of agricultural research, transfer technology, and develop eco-friendly farming technology.
A second MoU for co-operation in the land transport sector was signed between Qatar’s Ministry of Transport and Communications and South Korea’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport of the Republic of Korea.
A third MoU on fisheries and aquaculture co-operation was signed between Qatar’s Ministry of Municipality and Environment and South Korea’s Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries to enhance the scientific and industrial co-operation in fisheries and aquaculture field.
Sheikh Tamim and President Moon also witnessed the signing of an MoU between Qatar’s Ministry of Transport and Communications and South Korea’s Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries on recognition of Certificates under Regulation 1/10 of International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers (STCW Convention).
There was also an MoU on co-operation in the field of vocational retraining and development of vocational skills which was signed between Qatar’s General Authority of Customs and South Korea’s Customs Border Control Training Institute.
Another MoU for co-operation in the field of smart networks, methods and techniques used was signed between Qatar General Electricity and Water Corporation (Kahramaa) and Korea Electric Power Corporation (Kepco). This included co-operation and exchange of expertise in smart city technologies, infrastructure of developed calibration and information technology.
Mwani Qatar and Busan Port Authority also signed an MoU.
The signing ceremony was attended by members of the official delegation accompanying the Amir and a number of South Korean ministers and senior officials.
Diplomatic relations were established between the two countries back in 1972. Diplomatic and trade relations between the two countries have flourished since then. Co-operation in different fields such as finance, business and trade grew significantly since 1992. Since his arrival in 2012, co-operation has grown in the environmental field as well.
Bilateral relations between the two countries, is based on two main pillars -construction and energy. Trade volume reached $11.7bn in 2017 between both countries with Qatari exports of $ 11.2 billion. Qatar is South Korea’s second largest exporter of energy, particularly LNG.
Qatar operates 50 LNG carriers. The majority of these vessels were built and delivered by Korea's top-three shipbuilders including Hyundai Heavy and Samsung Heavy. South Korea and Qatar established diplomatic ties in 1974. They were upgraded to a comprehensive partnership in 2007.