RIYADH, Saudi Arabia -- President Park Geun-hye arrived in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, the second destination of her four Middle East nation trip aimed at seeking fresh partnership with the oil-rich region.

Soon after her arrival, Park is set to hold a summit with the newly crowned King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud to discuss ways to strengthen cooperation in energy, creative economy, investment, medical services and information technology.

Taking this opportunity, the two sides are also expected to agree on introducing South Korea’s vision of a creative economy. Creative economy is aimed at nurturing creative ideas and assimilating them with ICT, science and technology and other industries.
 

The leaders are also set to exchange their views on security issues including North Korea’s nuclear weapon development. Saudi Arabia is one of South Korea’s allies that has no diplomatic ties with North Korea.

Later in the afternoon, the South Korean president is scheduled to meet Crown Prince Muqrin bin Abdulaziz al-Saud and Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, second in line to the throne of Saudi Arabia.

On Wednesday, Park plans to meet Alwaleed Bin Talal Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, chairman of Kingdom Holding Company of Saudi Arabia, popularly known as Warren Buffett of the Middle East.

Park arrived in Saudi Arabia, after wrapping up her three-day visit to Kuwait.

The South Korean president requested the Kuwaiti emir to provide more opportunities for Korean firms eyeing massive infrastructure pushed by the Gulf nation.

The emir of Kuwait, Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, expressed his deep trust in Korean firms, saying that they have “perfectly completed all projects so far” and that Kuwait would continue to forge any kinds of bilateral cooperation with South Korea, Park’s senior secretary for economy An Chong-bum said.

The two leaders agreed to expand cooperation in renewable energy, medical services and IT during their summit talks and oversaw the signing of two memorandums of understanding aimed at expanding exchanges of medical professionals and the development of a railway linking Kuwait with other Gulf nations.

Later in the afternoon, business representatives from both countries agreed to cooperate in the development of smart grid, next-generation electrical power system operated using information and communication technologies, and improving the energy efficiency of buildings.


By Cho Chung-un, Korea Herald correspondent
(christory@heraldcorp.com)