INTERVIEWSaudi crown prince's visit to bring opportunities for Korean companies
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud of Saudi Arabia attends the G20 Summit in Nusa Dua, Bali, Indonesia, Tuesday. The crown prince will visit Korea to discuss various issues including the Neom project. AP-Yonhap
Korea, Saudi Arabia to cooperate closely for Vision 2030
By Kwon Mee-yoo
Ambassador of Saudi Arabia to Korea Sami M. Alsadhan / Courtesy of Embassy of Saudi Arabia in Seoul
Saudi Arabian Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud arrived in Korea early this morning with his itinerary packed with meetings with Korea's President Yoon Suk-yeol as well as high-profile business leaders.
His visit centers on seeking partnerships for Neom, a project initiated by the crown prince back in 2017. The $500 billion (657 trillion won) project aims to develop eco-friendly and smart cities covering a total of 26,500 square kilometers in Saudi Arabia's northwestern Tabuk Province near the Red Sea.
The new urban project reflects the crown prince's Saudi Vision 2030, which charts the Middle East nation's future away from an oil-centric economy and there are opportunities for Korea to cooperate with Saudi Arabia as a major contributor to the country's infrastructure since the 1970s.
Ambassador of Saudi Arabia to Korea Sami M. Alsadhan said the crown prince's visit will be "a huge chance to explore these projects closely for Korean companies along with investors."
"For Korean companies, there are tremendous opportunities for investments in these kinds of projects since they gained expertise throughout the years working whether in hydrogen technology or even smart cities," the ambassador said during an e-mail interview with The Korea Times.
Many Korean businesses are eager to take part in the construction projects of Neom. A consortium including Samsung C&T and Hyundai E&C won a $1-billion deal to build a railway tunnel for THE LINE, a major part of the Neom project.
Earlier this month, Korea's Land, Infrastructure and Transport Minister Won Hee-ryong flew to Saudi Arabia to discuss partnerships in future mobility and infrastructure development and some 20 companies organized the One Team Korea road show to explore possible business opportunities.
During his stay here, the crown prince is expected to meet the Korean president to discuss various issues including the Neom project and exports of nuclear reactors. He is also scheduled to meet the chiefs of Korean conglomerates, including Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong, Hyundai Motor Group Chairman Chung Euisun and SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won.
The crown prince, who is scheduled to leave Korea Thursday night, last visited the country in 2019. His visit this time has drawn particular attention as Korea's port city of Busan and Saudi's capital of Riyadh are competing to host World Expo 2030. The host city for the upcoming expo is scheduled to be decided in November 2023.
"His Royal Highness' visit in 2019 showed the depth between the Kingdom and Korea relations in terms of cooperation at the political level and the economic one, of course," the ambassador said.
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A handout picture provided by Saudi's Neom in July shows the design plan for the 500-meter tall parallel structures, known collectively as The Line, in the heart of the Red Sea megacity Neom. The futuristic megacity in Saudi Arabia will feature two massive, mirror-encased skyscrapers that extend over 170 kilometers of desert and mountain terrain, ultimately housing nine million people. Courtesy of Neom
"This visit would come with new opportunities for both leaderships to discuss as well as ensuring the strength of our partnership, as we happily mark the 60th anniversary (of diplomatic relations)."
Alsadhan explained why Saudi Arabia as well as other oil-producing countries are working to diversify their investments into areas such as clean energy as oil cannot be dispensed with and it is important to exploit all areas and resources available at the present time.
"The long-term policy of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is to maintain the stability of the oil market, and to maintain a healthy balance that serves both producers and consumers," he said.
"Vision 2030 is leading the Kingdom to transform the Kingdom, an economic power, with international partnerships, and to make it a beacon of culture and historical heritage, and a global tourist destination."
The two countries launched the Korea-Saudi Vision 2030 Committee in 2017 as there are many possibilities for them to cooperate on sustainable future strategy.
"The Kingdom's Vision 2030 shares mainly the same aspects as Korea 2030 Vision, which are targeting various investments, including non-oil ones. Despite the challenges caused by COVID-19 pandemic, the Kingdom is determined to achieve the goals of Vision 2030 in order to create a better life for its citizens and residents."
Korea and Saudi Arabia's strong friendship for six decades has been achieved mainly through exchanges in the fields of energy, infrastructure and construction. Saudi Arabia is Korea's biggest trading partner in the Middle East and Korea took part in many infrastructure and construction projects in Saudi Arabia.
The ambassador noted that the contribution of Korean companies is tremendous inside Saudi Arabia and hopes to strengthen this friendship by expanding it to include more areas.
"We will work towards broadening this partnership to include different areas, such as technology and tourism. We valued and benefited from our expertise in these fields, and since Korea is known as a leading country in many areas, the Kingdom is keen to further cooperation and diversify its partnership with Korea to cover other fields," he said.
An area he gave as an example is Korea's strong gaming industry.
"I believe the Public Investment Fund (PIF) is working to expand in many areas with Korean companies, the most important of which is technology and electronic games sector. These deals increase the amount of investments in this sector, especially since the percentage of young people in Saudi Arabia is very large and have a high interest in the electronic games sector and the PIF aims to sign with the most experienced countries in this field."
Ambassador Alsadhan also gave a peek into the country's budding tourist industry.
"The Kingdom is working rapidly to develop domestic tourism and also attract international events in order to increase the proportion of foreign tourists in Saudi Arabia," he said.
"Now it has more than three seasons a year in Riyadh, Jeddah and the Eastern Province and we also have a huge festival held in the city of Al-Ula that brings together pioneers of art, culture and history."
meeyoo@koreatimes.co.kr More articles by this reporter