(MENAFN- The Peninsula) joelyn baluyut |
The Peninsula
Doha: Bilateral trade volume between South Korea and Qatar in 2022 surged by over 45 percent compared to 2021.
Republic of Korea Ambassador to Qatar, H E Lee Joon-Ho told The Peninsula that during the January to November 2022 period, trade between his country and Qatar jumped to $15.4bn which is a 45.3 percent increase compared to the same period in 2021.
“This is attributable mainly to the rise in oil prices affected by the conflict in Ukraine. Korea's cumulative exports to Qatar grew 21.5 percent in the same period in 2022 to $450 million, and imports from Qatar also rose 46.2 percent to $14.9 billion. As of November 2022, Qatar is the 18th largest trading partner to Korea,” said Ambassador Lee.
With the exception of the COVID-19 years, which had an impact on the global economy, the volume of trade between South Korea and Qatar has increased since 2016, according to the Korea International Trade Association.
The ambassador has emphasised that his country and Qatar are working closely together this year to expand the sectors of their collaboration into new areas like healthcare, agriculture, and information and communications technology.
“Our two countries had fruitful high-level exchanges last year. In March, Korea's Prime Minister visited Qatar to promote our partnership in the fields of energy, investment, agriculture and healthcare. In August, Qatar's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs visited Korea to further strengthen the bilateral relations especially in the energy, technology and food security spheres.”
Ambassador Lee has also highlighted the bilateral economic collaboration linked to Qatar's North Field Expansion plan and the construction of LNG carriers are on track.“In particular, Korean companies won the contract for the construction of 53 LNG carriers and the EPC contract for 875MW Industrial Cities solar power plant in 2022.”
He also stressed that the military industry is another area they are strengthening.“Last year military police authorities of the two countries built a keen partnership in preparation for the World Cup. This year, we will continue to promote defence cooperation not only in the public but also in the private sector. It should be noted that many Korean companies are increasingly favoured worldwide for their high-performance and cost-effective defence equipment.
“I believe that our mutually beneficial partnership will continue and step forward to greater economic collaboration between our two countries in the coming years,” the envoy concluded.
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