S. Korea-UAE summit ends in nuclear, economic partnership

(ATTN: RECASTS headline, lead paras; UPDATES with outcome of the summit, additional
details)
By Byun Duk-kun
ABU DHABI, Dec. 27 (Yonhap) -- South Korean President Lee Myung-bak and his UAE
counterpart Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan agreed to forge an enhanced economic
partnership between their countries Sunday in a summit that also led to the
signing of a US$40-billion nuclear energy deal.
South Korea was named the winner of the UAE project to build four light water
nuclear reactors in an area located some 330 kilometers west of the UAE capital
by 2020.
"President Lee expressed gratitude to President Khalifa and his government for
naming the Korea Electric Power Corp. its partner in the nuclear power plant
project," Lee's presidential office Cheong Wa Dae said of the summit in a press
release.
The state-run South Korean electric company led a consortium of five other South
Korean businesses in the bid for the largest ever nuclear energy deal in the
Middle East. The deal is initially worth $20 billion, but additional contracts,
worth another $20 billion, will likely be awarded to the South Korean companies
in the next 60 years for the operation and maintenance of the reactors, according
to Cheong Wa Dae.
Lee arrived here Saturday on a visit widely seen as part of last-minute efforts
to help sell South Korean reactors for first time.
In his summit with the UAE president, Lee said his government will make sure the
nuclear reactors built here will be the best of their kind, according to Cheong
Wa Dae.
Lee and Khalifa agreed to deepen their cooperative relations in other areas as
well, as their countries signed an agreement for an enhanced economic partnership
shortly after the summit here.
The agreement, signed by South Korea's knowledge-economy minister Choi
Kyoung-hwan and UAE foreign minister Abdullah Bin Zayed al-Nahayan, consists of
14 sub-agreements that will lead to the establishment of various joint ventures
for the operation and maintenance of nuclear reactors to be built here.
"The leaders also agreed to continue developing the relationship between the
countries into a strategic partnership to help ensure their joint development in
the future," the press release said.
Lee ends his visit here later Sunday to head home. He will arrive in Seoul early
Monday.
bdk@yna.co.kr
(END)