1. Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha met with Chairman of the Executive Affairs Authority of Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Khaldoon Khalifa Al-Mubarak at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs at 16:30-17:00, February 19.

2. Minister Kang welcomed the forthcoming visit to the Republic of Korea in late February by Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan in reciprocation for the ROK President’s visit to the country in 2018.

° The Minister voiced hope that during the visit, the ROK and the UAE, as “special strategic partners” since March 2018, would further broaden the scope of cooperation, which used to be focused on energy, construction and infrastructure, to higher added-value areas in line with the fourth industrial revolution.

3. Chairman Khaldoon extended appreciation to the ROK Foreign Ministry for, in cooperation with other various relevant government agencies and with utmost sincerity, making preparations for Crown Prince Mohammed’s upcoming visit to the ROK.

° The UAE side placed hope on the Crown Prince’s visit to the ROK as an opportunity to reaffirm the commitment to advance the bilateral relations into brotherly ties for the next 100 years on the back of trust and friendship between the leaders of the two countries.

4. Minister Kang, having met with Chairman of the Executive Affairs Authority Khaldoon to review the progress in the bilateral relations since their upgrade to special strategic partnership in March 2018 as well as in cooperation projects, is expected to contribute to the efforts to reap best possible results from Crown Prince Mohammed’s visit to the ROK, which is scheduled for next week.

5. Prior to his meeting with Minister Kang, Chairman Khaldoon held a working luncheon with special presidential adviser for the UAE Im Jong-seok for a discussion on ways to continuously advance special partnership between the two countries and preparations for Crown Prince Mohammed’s forthcoming visit to the ROK.

* unofficial translation