UAE Ambassador to Seoul Abdulla Khalfan Al Romaithi (center) poses with General Manager Bernhard Brender (left) of Grand Hilton Seoul, and with Mr. Winfield Strum of HAG Hardware AG at the 44th UAE National Day reception held at Shilla Hotel in Seoul on Dec. 2, 2015.

UAE Ambassador to Seoul Abdulla Khalfan Al Romaithi hosted a grand reception at Shilla Hotel in Seoul on the occasion of the 44th National Day of UAE on Dec. 2, 2015.

Hundreds of guests nearly from all walks of life took part in the dinner reception. They included scores of top foreign envoys operating in Seoul, Korean government officials, top politicians, prominent businessmen, artists, journalists, and other high-profile opinion leaders.

The bilateral ties between the UAE and South Korea has developed by leaps and bounds since they established full diplomatic relations in June, 1980.

On the strength of the growing bilateral economic cooperation UAE formed a strategic partnership with South Korea.

UAE Ambassador to Seoul Abdulla Khalfan Al Romaithi

In recent years a number of high-ranking government officials and politicians exchanged visits between UAE and South Korea.

In March of 2015 President Park Guen-Hye of South Korea visited UAE for bilateral cooperation in a variety of fiends including culture, agriculture, and food.

In the past two South Korean heads of state, late President Roh Moo-Hyun and ex-President Lee Myung-Bak, visited the affluent Middle Eastern country, respectively for mainly economic cooperation.

In May, 2010 crown prince of Abu Dhabi, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan visited South Korea at the invitation of ex-President Lee. He was the deputy supreme commander of the UAE Armed Forces.

The crown prince's visit to Seoul was to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the diplomatic establishment between the two countries.

In 2010 the two countries launched "Korea-UAE Business Council" to further strengthen already brisk business ties.

The launching ceremony of the business council held at a Seoul hotel on May 27, 2010, was joined by Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, Gen. Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, and by then South Korean Prime Minister Chung Un-Chan.

Scores of major South Korean and UAE businesses are the founding members of the council: They include Hyundai Motors, SK, LG, GS, Doosan, STX from Korea and Mubadala Development Company (Mubadala), a leading business development and investment company based in Abu Dhabi, Advanced Technology Investment Company (ATIC), and state-run Etihad Airways.

The business council was formed in the wake of South Korea's winning of 20-billion-US-Dollar deal to export nuclear power plant to UAE in early 2012.

The South Korean Embassy was built in Abu Dhabi in 1980. About seven years later, the UAE opened its own embassy in Seoul.

Since the establishment of diplomatic ties, the two countries have been developing bilateral relations in the spheres of economics, politics, and cultural exchange.

In particular trade between South Korea and the UAE has grown sharply over the past five years.

The bilateral trade volume amounted to 24.9 billion US dollars in 2008, great leap from 9.8 billion dollars in 2004.

From South Korea UAE imports such products as electronic goods, textiles, automobiles, and auto parts.

UAE in return exports mainly crude oil to South Korea as it is South Korea’s second largest oil supplier in the world, only next to Saudi Arabia.

A host of South Korean companies are now operating in the UAE. They include POSCO, Daewoo Electronics, STX Construction Company, Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction Company, and Samsung C&T Corporation.

"UAE and South Korea has already established a strategic partnership," said a local professor. "But South Korea's advance into the market of UAE nuclear power plants would bolster the already strong economic ties even further."

About UAE

Dubai: the City Of Gold — A number of high-rise buildings are being constructed in Dubai, UAE as of April of 2012. Once a small fishing village Dubai is now a global city and a business and cultural hub of the Middle East. Based on oil industry Dubai has today emerged as a cosmopolitan metropolis.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is a federation of seven emirates situated in the southeast of the Arabian Peninsula in Southwest Asia on the Arabian Gulf, bordering Oman and Saudi Arabia. The UAE consists of seven states, termed emirates, which are Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah, Ajman, Umm al-Quwain, Ras al-Khaimah and Fujairah. The capital and second largest city of the United Arab Emirates is Abu Dhabi. It is also the country's center of political, industrial, and cultural activities.

Before 1971, the UAE was known as the Trucial States or Trucial Oman, in reference to a 19th-century truce between the United Kingdom and several Arab Sheikhs. The name Pirate Coast was also used in reference to the area's emirates in the 18th to early 20th century.

The political system of the United Arab Emirates, based on the 1971 Constitution, comprises several intricately connected governing bodies. Islam is the official religion and Arabic is the official language.

The United Arab Emirates has the world's sixth largest oil reserves and possesses one of the most developed economies in the Middle East.

The oil-rich UAE boasts of US$66,996 of per capital GDP as of 2015, which is the world's seventh highest.

The country is 14th largest in purchasing power per-capita and has a relatively high Human Development Index for the Asian continent, ranking 31st globally. The United Arab Emirates is classified as a high income developing economy by the IMF.

The United Arab Emirates is a founding member of the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf, and a member state of the Arab League. It is also a member of the United Nations, Organisation of the Islamic Conference, the OPEC, and the World Trade Organization.