President Lee Jae-myung on the 15th met Khaldoon Khalifa Al Mubarak, Chairman of the Abu Dhabi Executive Affairs Authority, regarded as a key power figure in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and discussed measures for cooperation in the defense industry. Korea’s participation is also being pursued in the “Stargate UAE Project” worth KRW 30 trillion that the UAE is promoting with OpenAI.

At the main building of the Blue House that morning, President Lee received Chairman Khaldoon, who visited Korea in his capacity as the UAE’s special envoy in charge of Korea, and said, “Korea and the UAE have decided to build a relationship that will walk together for 100 years, which in our language is called ‘baegnyeon haero’ (living together in harmony for 100 years),” adding, “I hope that you will carefully review how to achieve this in practical terms and produce concrete and visible outcomes.”

Turning to Senior Presidential Secretary for Political Affairs Kang Hoon-sik, who was in attendance, President Lee asked, “Senior Secretary Kang is in charge of joint projects with the UAE; are you two getting along well?” He continued, “We have prepared in detail many things that the two countries can do together, and it would be good if you consult closely and produce tangible results.” President Lee also inquired about the health of President Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and requested that he visit Korea in the near future.

Chairman Khaldoon said, “President Mohamed specifically asked me to convey his warm thanks and regards,” and added, “As President Lee mentioned, I will work closely with Senior Secretary Kang, whom I think of as an elder brother, to produce results. President (Mohamed) also emphasized that it is important to achieve as many visible outcomes as possible in the shortest possible time.” In response to President Lee’s invitation for President Mohamed to visit Korea, he replied, “If the Korean side proposes a convenient date, we will make every effort to adjust so that he can come at that time, and we will strive to achieve many results on that occasion.”

Chairman Khaldoon’s visit to Korea this time is known to be aimed at fleshing out cooperation measures in the fields of defense industry, artificial intelligence (AI), and energy that were discussed during President Lee’s visit to the UAE. It has been about two months since President Lee last met Chairman Khaldoon during his state visit to the UAE in November last year.

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