Mutual relations witness steady developments

King Abdullah bin Abdul-Aziz al Saud

Ambassador of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Ahmad Al-Barrak contributed the following article to The Korea Times on the occasion of the 82nd National Day of Saudi Arabia. — ED.

The 82nd celebration of the National Day of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for the year 2012 comes while the bilateral relations between >the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Republic of Korea are witnessing a qualitative leap and amazing developments in all aspects of political, economic, cultural, educational and military fields.

One of the most important of such developments was the meeting between His Excellency President Lee Myung-bak of the Republic of Korea and the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques His Majesty King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud in Riyadh of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in early February 2012.

Fifty years have passed since the establishment of diplomatic relations between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Republic of Korea.

Marking this significant year between the two countries, we have witnessed two very important events that symbolize and well reflect the intimate relationship between the friendly peoples, and which well reflected the nature of sincere cooperation between the two countries.

The first event was when the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia invited the Republic of Korea as the guest of honor to the National Festival for Heritage and Culture 2012 or “Janadriyah Festival,” one of the most important cultural festivals where the essence of the culture of Saudi Arabia as well as Arabs as a whole can be enjoyed.

The participation of Republic of Korea has indeed left great memories to be cherished in the minds of the Saudi people and other visitors.

The second important event came when the Republic of Korea chose the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia as the guest of honor for the Seoul International Book Fair in June 2012.

At the Book Fair, a variety of cultural and youth events as well as scientific and economic seminars were held on the sidelines of the exhibition.

These clearly showed assurances by both sides and their sincere and earnest willingness to continue such a relationship, with their keen efforts to develop such relations in line with the principle of mutual interests and policies within the common denominators that bind both our countries.

As has been documented, the mutual relations have witnessed steady developments and remarkable cooperation in various fields that respond to policies and principles stipulated in mutual agreements, talks and mutual visits by officials from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Republic of Korea.

Such efforts have made the two countries’ relations one of the most important international relationships within half a century. The mutual relations have been characterized by sincerity, honesty and commitment to all that have been agreed upon, without seeing problems or misunderstanding when carrying out these promises and agreements.

The year 1962 witnessed the beginning of the establishment of Saudi-Korean diplomatic relations.

The Embassy of Saudi Arabia that opened in 1974 in Seoul was the first Arab embassy to be established there.

Since the establishement of diplomatic ties, the bilateral relaions in the early stages witnessed a number of achievements, with the participation of Korean experts and manpower in the Kingdom to modernize its infrastructure, mainly with implementation of projects of roads, public buildings, water desalination, power generation, information technology and other various industrial projects.

This was indeed enough to make Korea more qualified — thanks to its companies, experts, and well trained manpower — and thereby win a significant share of large-scale projects carried out in the Kingdom.

It also paved the way to conclude more deals between the two countries to carry out such projects, based on the needs of the Kingdom and the requirements of its development.

In other words, the Saudi-Korea relationship has been “full of singularity,” as described by President Lee Myung-bak during a meeting with Saudi businessmen this year in Riyadh.

Those who review the economies of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Republic of Korea, and each country’s potential, their status in the global economic system, they will not find themselves surprised at the solid Saudi-Korea partnership and their capability to create a productive environment, and how they became members of G20, the group of the economically richest countries in the world.

The friendship between the two countries, similar policies and chances of available integration between them enabled both governments to draw a road map of their bilatreral relations with specifications appropriate for both sides, and help in making a later stage of a distinguished partnership by enhancing the yearly value added by such a relationship.

A number of agreements, committees — mainly, the Saudi-Korea Joint Committee — that connects both countries assure that the two build a genuine partnership that does not exclude any activity, so that the bilateral cooperation would be comprehensive and responsive to the interests of the people of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Republic of Korea.

The bilatreral relations in the political domain have witnessed similarities in views regarding their positions towards global issues and developments over the last 50 years.

In the field of trade, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is one of the major trading partners of the Republic of Korea, where the Kingdom is its fourth largest trading partner, while Korea is Saudi’s fifth largest.

There are nearly 129 joint projects and the size of trade volume between the two countries has increased over the last four years by 300 percent to $45 billion in 2011. The bilateral trade volume for this year is expected to reach $47 billion.

Such extending growth in trade relations has been attributed to integration elements between the two countries.

Recently relations between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Republic of Korea have taken an important trend, thanks to the advantages of Korean experiences in the field of education.

A number of Saudi students have enrolled in prestigious Korean universities and the Saudi Arabian Cultural Mission in Seoul has opened, as the first Arab, Islamic cultural office accredited to the Republic of Korea, to guide and follow up the Saudi students’ education procedures.

The number of Saudi students with various majors has now reached over 300. The bilateral cooperation in education has extended to interchanges and cooperation among universities of both countries.

Furthermore, the contribution of sports in promoting mutual relations through various visits and matches has been quite remarkable.

Lastly, I would like to note with significance that such achievements in the march of bilateral relations would have not been accomplished without the kind and merciful assistance of Allah and the support and guidance from both rational leadership that pay special attention to sustain and support the relationship between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Republic of Korea.

Thanks to Allah, the pace of the relations between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Republic of Korea is moving smoothly as planned, heading towards the steady and impeccable progress and growth in serenity and harmony. <The Korea Times>

news@theasian.asia