GCC, ROK sign strategic cooperation deal

NEW YORK: The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and the Republic of Korea (ROK) signed on Friday a memorandum of understanding (MoU) over strategic cooperation in many domains. The MoU establishes a strategic dialogue between the GCC member countries and ROK with a view to strengthening the cooperation in such areas as trade, tourism, economy, energy, culture, sport and education, according to KUNA . Kuwait's First Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah, leading the GCC side to a ministerial troika meeting with South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-Se, said the MoU would also serve as a platform to discussing international issues of mutual interest. "We all look forward to fully realising the potential of our relations and are ready to cooperate on all matters of importance to the Republic of Korea," he said in a statement at the meeting. Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled pointed out that volume of trade between the six-member GCC and South Korea surged from US$ 10 billion some 10 years ago to over US$ 123 billion now. He said Korean companies were actively involved in development projects in the Gulf countries. "We seek to further augment and increase our cooperation in the coming years," he said, especially in trade, oil and infrastructure. South Korea imports oil from the Gulf countries, and Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled asserted to Yun that Seoul could "depend on the GCC as a source of sustained energy exports and a strategic investment partner." He said the GCC "seek from our partnership with the Republic of Korea the technological know-how that it has been able to impeccably develop over the years." Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled also called for concentrating on fostering cooperation in tourism and cultural exchanges because they were "the vehicles that bring nations closer at the grass roots level." – Emirates News Agency, WAM – http://www.wam.ae/en/news/international/1395270192602.html