Yoon calls UAE 'optimal partner' for cooperation
Psident Yoon Suk Yeol and first lady Kim Keon Hee salute the Korean flag at a meeting with Korean residents in the United Arab Emirates at a hotel in Abu Dhabi on Jan. 14. Yonhap
President Yoon Suk Yeol pledged Saturday to establish a base for the future joint prosperity of South Korea and the United Arab Emirates as he began a state visit to the Middle Eastern country.
Yoon made the remark during a meeting with some 150 South Korean residents in the UAE shortly after arriving in Abu Dhabi for a four-day visit.
"The UAE, which is preparing for a post-oil era, and the Republic of Korea, with its innovative ideas and technological skills, are optimal partners," he said. "On the occasion of this state visit, I will establish a foothold for a groundbreaking leap for the future joint prosperity of the two countries."
Yoon noted that the UAE is the only Middle Eastern nation to have a special strategic partnership with Korea.
Since Korea's construction of the Barakah nuclear power plant in the UAE, the two countries' relations have developed rapidly, expanding to cover everything from energy and construction to health, arms and culture, he said.
"As we mark the second year since our administration's launch this year, I will normalize the ills holding back the prosperity of the Republic of Korea and unite all of the nation's capabilities to produce new growth engines," Yoon added, promising to also foster the infrastructure construction, nuclear energy and arms sectors into new export engines. (Yonhap)