Korea-Qatar summit

President Moon had a summit with Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, Emir of Qatar, at the Blue House on 28 last month. Moon greeted him warmly and hoped a successful 2022 FIFA World Cup Qatar.

Moon said “You are the first overseas leader to visit Korea this year and I feel really grateful to have you here. I would like to express my congratulations on your holding the 2022 FIFA World Cup Qatar as the first county in the Middle East and I hope a great success. I learned that your team beat our team at the 2019 AFC Asian Cup. To be honest it was a sad day for us but I sincerely hope you make for the semi-final in your homeland in 2022. Korea held a World Cup successfully before and the recent PyeongChang 2018 was praised as the best of the history of the Winter Olympic Games. We would like to share our experience with you and we will provide unsparing support. I’m really glad that Qatar is one of our valuable friends and a good partner in every field. The trade volume has reached US$17 billion and I believe that many Korean companies played a role to make economic development of Qatar. We largely depend on you in LNG and there are many potential cooperation areas. This year marks the 45th anniversary of the diplomatic ties between the two countries and I hope we keep pushing forward cooperation bilaterally and internationally.” 

The emir of Qatar in respond emphasized on strengthening the ties and hoped to make the most of Korea’s experience in the World Cup and the PyeongChang 2018. 

Korea and Qatar sign a MOU
After the summit, two leaders signed a MOU on 7 cooperation areas: 1) smart farm 2) land transportation 3) fish culture 4) marine technician license 5) education and training 6) smart grid 7) port. The signing was followed by a luncheon and 20 highest political and economic figures were invited to join the feast. Moon again hoped a successful 2022 World Cup Qatar and praised his will to create a just society as shown in introduction of the ‘Sheikh Tamim Anti-Corruption Award’, adding that Korea also is working on creating a just society. The summit and the MOU are expected to expand the Korean companies’ operation in Qatar in relation with the 2022 World Cup Qatar and the Qatar VISION 2030. 

Moon meets Lee
President Moon met Lee Chang-yong, the chief director of the IMF Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific last month. Regarding the IMF global economy prospect, Lee said “The global trade showed a recovery through 2016 and 2017 and it helped an expansion of global economy but the economic growth showed a down turn from the latter half of the year 2018. But we do not see this as a sgin of recession.” Moon and Lee then had an in-depth talk on various regional and global eocnomic issues. Lee majored in economics at Seoul National University, obtained a degree at Harvard and started to work as the current posistion from 2014.