UAE seeks Korean investment

The UAE Minister of Economy Sultan bin Saeed Al Mansouri has invited South Korean investment into infrastructure, financial services and health. Inaugurating the third joint economic committee meeting between the two countrieshe, the minister also suggested to extend cooperation in aviation services, telecommunications and technology sectors. South Korean Minister of Strategy and Finance Bahk Jae-wan led the Korean delegation. In his opening address, he said both the countries have the right resources to lead innovations in technology, ?creativity, research and development, small and medium businesses and intellectual property rights. “Both the government and private sector in the UAE look forward to an era of increased co-operation and stronger economic partnerships with South Korea, especially during the next five years,” Al Mansouri said. “It was two years back that our countries met on the same platform in Korea during the second joint economic committee in May 2010. Since then, we have made considerable progress in our economic and trade relations, and certainly there is a feeling of accomplishment,” he said. The bilateral trade has reached $22 billion in 2010 and both countries are looking forward to increase its growth through effective integrated plan”, he told the meeting in Abu Dhabi on Monday. He said the UAE values the importance of expanding economic cooperation in the sectors of trade, investment, industry, small and medium enterprises, financial services, petrochemicals, and green economy, apart from civil aviation, intellectual property rights, transportation, and healthcare. Other areas, in which the UAE is deeply interested in boosting cooperation, include education, telecommunication, environment, agriculture, customs cooperation, technology and IT, Al Mansouri said. The UAE has shown resilience by becoming one of the first in the region to emerge out of the crisis which has trapped many advanced economies. With growth of more than 4.2 per cent in 2011, the UAE once again demonstrated to the world that it is a strong, stable and diverse economy. “We look forward to accelerated growth in 2012 and beyond,” the minister said. Al Mansouri said concrete steps should be taken to increase economic and technical cooperation through exchange of delegations in the governmental and private sectors. Through the high-level visits that took place between the two countries it will be possible to boost the existing level of cooperation between the public as well as private sectors. “The UAE is investing heavily in education and is keen to learn from the Korean experience of establishing a knowledge economy,” he added.  The gradual transformation toward knowledge economy, he said was an essential part of this vision, which presents big opportunities for cooperation.