RIYADH, South Korea and Saudi Arabia will sign 51 deals and memorandums of understanding (MOU) worth a total of US$15.6 billion on the occasion of South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol’s state visit to the Arab country, his office said Sunday.
The agreements will be signed on Sunday and Monday during a bilateral investment forum, a ceremony marking 50 years of construction cooperation between the two countries, and following a summit meeting between Yoon and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, according to senior presidential secretary for economic affairs Choi Sang-mok.
The contracts and MOUs cover a wide range of sectors, including crude oil, hydrogen energy, statistics, food and medical products.
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol (2nd from L) and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (R) walk to a meeting room at the Al Yamamah Palace in Riyadh on Oct. 22, 2023.
Among them is a contract between the state-run Korea National Oil Corp. and Saudi Arabia’s state-run oil giant, Saudi Aramco, to create a joint crude oil reserve of 5.3 million barrels at a storage facility in the South Korean city of Ulsan by 2028.
Under the deal, South Korea will have priority purchasing rights to the oil in a supply and demand emergency and earn rent over a five-year lease period.
The two governments will also agree to a “hydrogen oasis cooperation initiative,” which will call for the establishment of separate working groups for each step of the hydrogen “value chain,” from its production to distribution and use, and systematically support relevant projects between the two countries’ businesses.
In addition, the two countries’ statistics agencies will sign an agreement on sharing information and material on statistical production.
Choi told reporters the new deals will add to the $29 billion worth of MOUs and contracts signed during the crown prince’s visit to Seoul last November.
He also said there were tangible results in more than 60 percent of the projects worth $29 billion, including in the groundbreaking of the “Shaheen” petrochemical plant project in Ulsan and the establishment of a $160 million joint venture capital fund.
Meanwhile, South Korean companies have participated in bidding for $25 billion of the total $500 billion worth of projects to be carried out in connection with Neom, an initiative to develop eco-friendly and smart cities in Saudi Arabia’s northwestern Tabuk Province.
“President Yoon plans to ask Crown Prince Mohammed for his active interest and support for South Korean companies to win contracts,” Choi said.
Source: Yonhap News Agency