Seoul: As Korean diplomats prepare for a potential high-level visit to the Kingdom later this year, South Korea's deputy foreign minister stated to Arab News on Tuesday that the country wants to realise more cooperative projects with Saudi Arabia.

President Yoon Suk-yeol of South Korea and Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman committed to closer ties last November during the latter's first trip to Seoul since June 2019.

Yoon stated following the talks that there were plans for more collaboration as it was time to "take the relationship to a new level through Saudi Vision 2030." Their meeting paved the way for multibillion dollar bilateral cooperation in space technology, energy, infrastructure, and the Kingdom's giga-project NEOM.

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On the sidelines of the World Journalists Conference 2023 in Seoul, South Korea's deputy foreign minister, Choi Youngsam, told Arab News: "Our cooperation and partnership with Saudi Arabia is very important.

We share interests with Saudi Arabia in a variety of economic sectors, such as construction and cutting-edge technology, according to Choi.

We sincerely hope that we can realise more intricate joint projects between our two countries.

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In November, Yoon and Crown Prince Mohammed made a deal to turn their bilateral ties into a "future-oriented strategic partnership" and form a special committee to support joint ventures.

The visit in November also fell in line with the Korea-Saudi Investment Forum, which saw the signing of 26 contracts for various projects, including clean energy and building in NEOM, the Saudi smart city project run by the crown prince, between Saudi companies and their Korean counterparts.

Yoon previously expressed his desire for South Korean businesses to take part in Saudi megaprojects like NEOM, as such partnerships are intended to boost the Korean economy. The previous Middle Eastern construction boom supported South Korea's explosive economic growth in the 1970s.

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According to Choi, Korean diplomats are currently setting up plans to follow up on the crown prince's visit. There will be a significant follow-up visit to Saudi Arabia this year. We are holding diplomatic consultations right now.