Park holds talks with Abu Dhabi crown prince

By Kim Kwang-tae ABU DHABI, March 5 (Yonhap) -- South Korean President Park Geun-hye met with Abu Dhabi's crown prince, an official said Thursday, the latest in a series of summits that underscored Seoul's commitment to further deepening cooperation with the wealthy Gulf state. The summit is the third between Park and Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan in just over a year. The crown prince visited South Korea and met with Park in February 2014. They also met during Park's visit to the oil-rich capital of Abu Dhabi in May last year. Mohammed Bin Zayed told Park that he will make efforts to enhance strategic cooperative relations with South Korea, according to Park's office. One of key centerpieces of Thursday's summit is a memorandum of understanding on cooperation on halal food products, a move Seoul says could give South Korea's access to the huge global halal market. Halal is an Arabic word meaning "lawful" or "permitted." Halal food is prepared according to religious rules for Muslims, but 80 percent of the food comes from non-Muslim countries and companies, according to South Korea. The global halal market stood at $1.08 trillion in 2012 and is expected to grow to $1.62 trillion in 2018, or 17.4 percent of the global farm and food market in the cited year, according to South Korean data. South Korea plans to double its export of halal food products to $1.2 billion by 2017. South Korea and UAE also agreed to strengthen cooperation in health care, and to explore cooperation in cyber-security, according to Park's office. Mohammed Bin Zayed said he trusts South Korea in the health care sector and said he would be pleased if more South Korean doctors and nurses come to his Gulf state. About 170 South Korean doctors and nurses are working in the Sheikh Khalifa Specialist Hospital in the UAE under a consignment deal with Seoul National University Hospital, one of South Korea's top medical centers. It marked the first time that a South Korean hospital has won a consignment contract for a foreign hospital. Seoul St. Mary's Hospital has also agreed with the UAE to set up medical check-up facilities in the oil-rich capital of Abu Dhabi and the regional commercial hub of Dubai. The summit comes 10 months after Park visited the UAE for a ceremony marking the installation of a Korean-built nuclear reactor at a power plant under construction in Barakah, some 300 kilometers west of Abu Dhabi. It is the first out of four reactors South Korea plans to provide the UAE under a 2009 deal worth US$20.4 billion that marked South Korea's first export of nuclear reactors. South Korea also hopes to win the lucrative right to operate the four power plants scheduled to be completed between 2017 and 2010. The construction of a nuclear power plant "has become a good starting point for the two countries to open the next hundred years," Park told Mohammed Bin Zayed, according to Park's office. The comment came as the UAE and other Mideastern countries are pushing to diversify their economies that are heavily dependent on oil ahead of the inevitable advent of a post-oil era. South Korea believes Mideastern countries' attempts to diversify their industries could present new business opportunities for South Korean companies. Park and the Abu Dhabi crown prince also observed the signing of another MOU calling for the establishment of a Korean cultural center in the UAE, the first in the Gulf region. South Korea said its cultural center can help promote South Korean pop culture in the region. South Korean soap operas, films and pop music have gained popularity in China, other Asian countries as well as the Middle East in recent years, a phenomenon often described as the Korean Wave, or "hallyu." Also Thursday, Park visited Sheikh Zayed Al Nahyan Mosque, an Abu Dhabi landmark, covering her head with white shayla, a long rectangular scarf. entropy@yna.co.kr (END)