Discussion on Infrastructure Cooperation with Saudi Royal Princess Vice Minister Haifa
"60th Anniversary of Korea-Saudi Diplomatic Relations, Time to Elevate Bilateral Cooperation to a New Level"
On the 20th, Won Hee-ryong, Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, held a meeting with Haifa Bint Mohammed Al Saud, Deputy Minister of Tourism of Saudi Arabia, at the Shilla Hotel in Seoul to discuss cooperation measures between the two countries. [Photo by Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport]
[Asia Economy Reporter Cha Wanyong] Won Heeryong, Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, is actively engaging in diplomacy to secure the Saudi Arabian government's eco-friendly future new city project, ‘NEOM City.’ This time, he held a separate meeting with the Saudi Arabian Deputy Minister of Tourism, who is visiting Korea, to discuss cooperation measures between the two countries.
On the 20th, Minister Won Heeryong met with Haifa bint Mohammed Al Saud, Deputy Minister of Tourism of Saudi Arabia, at the Shilla Hotel in Seoul to discuss cooperation measures between the two countries. Deputy Minister Haifa, a princess of the Saudi royal family, is responsible for Saudi Arabia’s tourism strategy and is known as a prominent pro-Korea figure within Saudi Arabia.
This meeting was arranged at the request of the Saudi side visiting Seoul to attend the 23rd World Knowledge Forum held from the 20th to the 22nd.
At the meeting, Minister Won emphasized that Saudi Arabia is a key partner country where Korean construction workers first entered the Middle East in 1973 and has ranked first in cumulative overseas construction orders. He expressed hope that the cooperative relationship would be further strengthened in the future.
Minister Won then launched full-scale infrastructure sales diplomacy. He stressed, “We hope that Korea’s excellent infrastructure technology will be utilized in major projects such as NEOM, and Korea plans to actively promote cooperation beyond infrastructure to cultural content collaboration.”
The NEOM City project is a future city construction project on a 26,500 km² site near the Red Sea in northwestern Saudi Arabia, which is 44 times the size of Seoul. It consists of three projects: ‘The Line,’ an eco-friendly linear city 170 km long and 200 m wide; ‘Oxagon,’ an octagonal advanced industrial complex floating on the sea; and ‘Trojena,’ a mountain tourism complex. The total project cost reaches 670 trillion won (500 billion dollars). ‘Team Korea,’ including Samsung C&T, Hyundai Engineering & Construction, and SM Entertainment, is actively working to secure the contract.
Deputy Minister Haifa responded positively to Minister Won’s active infrastructure sales efforts. She said, “Korea has the highest level in the field of mobility innovation,” and expressed hope for future mobility cooperation with Korea covering aviation, roads, logistics, and more.
In response, Minister Won introduced the mobility innovation roadmap currently being promoted domestically and said, “We hope to explore concrete and practical cooperation connecting mobility such as autonomous vehicles, urban air mobility (UAM), and logistics with smart cities.”
Also present at the meeting, Kim Sanghyup, Chairman of the 2050 Carbon Neutral Green Growth Committee, added, “We sympathize with Saudi Arabia’s carbon neutrality and sustainable development strategies and hope that the two countries will become cooperative partners for carbon neutrality.”
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport plans to actively support Korean companies’ contract activities by utilizing various opportunities such as luncheon meetings with GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) country ambassadors in Korea and the GICC (Global Infrastructure Cooperation Conference) to strengthen infrastructure cooperation with Saudi Arabia.
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
