1. Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Choi Jongmoon visited Oman from September 14 to 15 following his visit to Qatar on September 13 and had meetings with the Foreign Minister and the Deputy Foreign Minister of Oman to discuss ways for substantive cooperation between the two countries and cooperation in the international arena and to exchange views on regional affairs.

2. Vice Minister Choi paid a courtesy call on Oman’s Foreign Minister, Sayyid Badr Albusaidi and expressed his gratitude to the government of Oman for its cooperation regarding Korea’s Cheonghae Unit, and agreed to activate inter-governmental cooperation channels.

o In response, Foreign Minister Sayyid Badr Albusaidi voiced his hope to take the bilateral relations to a higher level by further expanding substantive cooperation.

o In particular, Foreign Minister Sayyid Badr Albusaidi highly appreciated that Korea has made a constant financial contribution to the Middle East Desalination Research Center, which was established in 1996 at the initiative of Oman to solve the Israel-Palestine issue. Vice Minister Choi expressed the intention of constant contribution and participation in the Research Center.

3. Vice Minister Choi met with Deputy Foreign Minister Sheikh Khalifa Alharthy, and they explored ways to enhance substantive cooperation in the fields including economy, defense industry, education, tourism, and culture, and exchanged views on the current situations on the Korean Peninsula and in the Middle East.

o Moreover, Vice Minister Choi proposed to make joint efforts to cooperate in new areas including renewable energy, as there seems to be many common areas between Korea’s Green New Deal and Oman’s Vision 2040, its national development plan.

4. Vice Minister Choi’s visit to Oman has served as an opportunity to further invigorate bilateral cooperation, as Oman has provided ongoing support to the Korean government as one of its major LNG suppliers.