The President and UAE President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan shaking hands at Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates n Sunday (Dec. 27)

The President, who is on an official visit to the United Arab Emirates, held summit talks with UAE President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan in Abu Dhabi Sunday (Dec. 27).

The two leaders expressed satisfaction over increasing bilateral cooperation in trade, energy, construction, plants and other fields. In the wake of a Korean consortium''s winning bid to build nuclear reactors in the UAE, both sides agreed to upgrade ties to a strategic partnership and realize joint growth in Northeast Asia and the Middle East.

The President also thanked Khalifa for selecting the Korean consortium for the project, adding Seoul will see to it that the consortium will build the best nuclear facilities based on its know-how accumulated over the past 30 years. .

With 2010 to mark the 30th anniversary of bilateral ties, The President said this latest turn of events should be translated into something more to further strengthen cooperative ties. He invited Khalifa to visit Korea next year, to which the sheikh responded with interest.

The Korea-UAE summit was the first of its kind between the two leaders.
 

The signing ceremony at Abu Dhabi on Sunday (Dec. 27).

After their meeting, the two leaders signed an economic cooperation treaty and a memorandum of understanding on the treaty. They then attended the signing ceremony for the nuclear plant contract in addition to some 60 key officials of the two countries.

The treaty was signed by Korean Knowledge Economy Minister Choi Kyung-hwan and UAE Foreign Minister Abdallah Bin Zayid Al Nahyan. The contract for the nuclear plant project was signed by Korea Electric Power Corp. President Kim Ssang-su and Emirates Nuclear Energy Corp. Chairman Khaldoon Al-Mubarak.

More MOUs were signed in renewable energy, nurturing personnel and ICT (information, communication and energy).

Also attending the ceremony was Youssef Omair Bin Youssef, president of Abu Dhabi National Oil Co., who discussed raising cooperation in energy and plant construction. The state-run company has 15 subsidiaries and manages oil, natural gas, exploration for hydrogen carbon and others.

A luncheon meeting followed the signing ceremony, after which The President visited a grand mosque to pay respects to the late Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan (1918-2004), the father of Khalifa who played a key role in modernizing the UAE. The mosque''s white dome is known to be the largest in the world, surrounded by 81 small domes and four minarets.