HRH Prince Salman Meets South Korean President and Premier
His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al-Khalifa, Crown Prince and Deputy Supreme Commander today hailed strong relations bonding Bahrain and South Korea, pointingout in this regard projects and fruitful programs in the industrial and technical sectors.
He stressed the need to diversify alliances, political, economicand trade relations in an ever-changing world to ensure greater developmentpotential. HRH Prince Salman was speaking as he met today South KoreanPresident Lee Myung-bak,in the presence of his son Shaikh Mohammed bin Salman bin Hamad Al-Khalifa.
President Lee Myung-bak reaffirmed his country’s keenness on bolstering bilateralrelations with Bahrain and multilateral ties with the GCC- describing the driveas a strategic cornerstone of high value. President Lee Myung-bak welcomed HRHPrince Salman describing his landmark visit to South Korea as a major boost forbilateral relations.
He stressed the importance of exchanging visits betweenofficials for joing cooperation to be boslered even further. He extended hisgreetings to His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al-Khalifa, stressing opportunitiesto promote cooperation in different fields. HRH Prince Salman hailed South’s worldstanding lauding its economic and development strides, sound politics andlandmark pprogress.
“We in the Kingdom of Bahrain look forward to benefitingfrom the South Korean development edge and technological know-how and further bolsteringrelations for both countries to reap the dividends. Present were Foreign MinisterShaikh Khalid bin Ahmed bin Mohammed Al-Khalifa, Industry and Commerce MinisterDr Hassan bin Abdulla Fakhro, Crown Prince Court Advisor for Economic and PoliticalAffairs Shaikh Mohammed bin Isa Al-Khalifa, Crown Prince’s Court Chief ShaikhKhalifa bin Duaij Al-Khalifa, Court Advisor Shaikh Ahmed bin Khalifa Al-Khalifaand Bahrain Ambassador to China and Non-resident Ambassador to South Korea BibiAl-Sayyed Sharaf.
HRH Prince Salman earlier heldtalks with South Korean Prime Minister Han Duck-soo on joint cooperation. He hailedSouth Koreans’ determination, creativity an keeneess on enhacing their country’sproductivity and pushing forward development. He stressed Bahrain’s ambition tobenefit for South Korean success stories and technological prowess. Hee alsovoiced his confidence in the capacity of Bahrain to overcome the challenges andemrge stronger thanks to HM King Hamad’s determination and leadership.
PrimeMinister – Han Duck Soo hosted a dinner banquet in honour of HRH the Crown Prince,in the presence of Shaikh Mohammed bin Salman bin Hamad Al-Khalifa and theaccompanying delegation. The South Korean Premier stressedhis country’s support for the national dialogue as keenness on Bahrain’s stabilityfor development to continue.HRH Prince Salman thanked the SouthKorean Premier for the hospitality, warm welcome and support for for Bahrain’sstability, stressing resolve to cointinue political reform in tadem witheconomic development under the leadership of HM King Hamad.
HRH Prince Salman and PrimeMinister Han Duck Soo attended the signing of an agreement on avoiding doubletaxation and fiscal evasion. Foreign Minister Shaikh Khalid binAhmed bin Mohammed Al-Khalifa sealed the deal, on behalf of the FinanceMinister, along with South Korean Foreign Minister and Trade Acting Minister Woo-hyun. HRH Prince Salman also met SouthKorean General Management and Security Minister and responsible for e-GovernmentHyung-kyu Maeng and hailed South Korean technological strides and knowledge-basedeconomy. He stressed the importance ofcoordination between Bahrain e-Government Authority and specialized SouthKorean organizations, stressing their joint drive to transfer expertise andprogrammes to Asian, Arab and African countries and assist them incompetence-building and drawing up plans.
Hyung-kyu Maeng praised Bahrain’se-Government strides in a short time, hailied HRH Prince Salman’s keenness ondeveloping the vital sector. He also wished success for the newnational strategy spearheaded by the Bahrain e-Government Authority, scheduledto be implemented in 2016. HRH Prince Salman also met keyofficials from The Korea Transport Institute(KOTI) and heard a presentation on KOTI activities and projects, stressingBahrain’s drive to upgrade its transport infrastructure.
He stressed Bahrain’skeen interest to enhance logistics and transport services as well as theestablishment of a wide-ranging transport network inside Bahrain and the GCCstates.KOTIofficials stressed their keenness on promoting cooperation and launcing jointventures with Bahrain.
