S. Korean premier to visit Middle East over energy cooperation
- 관리자
- 2008.11.24
- Hit 4254
Resource-poor South Korea is heavily dependent on oil imports and has been intensifying "energy diplomacy," a flagship policy of the market-oriented Lee Myung-bak administration inaugurated in February.
Visiting Qatar, Kuwait and Turkey from Nov. 27 to Dec. 3, Prime Minister Han Seung-soo will make a keynote speech at the Doha development conference, expressing South Korea's willingness to expand official assistance to underdeveloped countries. About 150 high-ranking officials, including King Abdullah II of Jordan and French President Nicolas Sarkozy, will be attending the meeting along with Han.
The South Korean prime minister will meet Qatari King Hamad Khalifa and Prime Minister Hamad Jassim to discuss cooperation in the liquefied natural gas and construction sectors.
Han also plans to meet U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who is South Korean, along with World Trade Organization Director-General Pascal Lamy and Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development Secretary-General Angel Gurria.
South Korea is the world's fifth-biggest oil importer. Annual purchases reach around 900 million barrels with more than 80 percent of the energy provided by the Middle East, according to state data.
From YonhapNews(http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr)