Expansion of Cooperation
The Ministry of Trade, Industry & Energy announced on July 3 that Minister Joo Hyung-hwan met with Minister of Energy, Industry & Mineral Resources of Saudi Arabia Khalid al-Falih on July 1 and agreed to hold their industrial cooperation council meeting twice a year on a regular basis down the road so that South Korea and Saudi Arabia can better cooperate in the fields of automobile, shipbuilding, electronics and infrastructure as well as investment, oil and trade.
Earlier in 2014, the South Korean government provided its assistance for S-Oil so that the company can clinch a five trillion-won deal for oil refinery renovation. According to the contract, the Korea National Oil Corporation’s storage facilities in Ulsan City are to be relocated underground and the site above the ground is to be sold to S-Oil. Saudi Aramco, which is a state-run company of Saudi Arabia, is the largest shareholder of S-Oil with a shareholding ratio of 63.46%. Minister Khalid al-Falih was the chairman and CEO of the company from 2009 to 2015.
“Saudi Aramco’s successful investment in S-Oil is a typical win-win business model based on South Korea’s advanced business environments, creativity, excellent manpower, experience and productivity,” the Saudi Arabian minister explained, continuing, “Nowadays, such experience is taking the form of cooperation between Hyundai Heavy Industries and Saudi Aramco in the shipbuilding sector, POSCO Engineering & Construction’s investment utilizing the Public Investment Fund, collaborations between SABIC and SK Global Chemical, etc.” He went on to say, “Saudi Arabia is looking to advance its industrial infrastructure in automobile, shipbuilding, chemical, electronics, information technology and the like while making an increasing investment in renewable energy and mineral development,” adding, “At the same time, it is going to invest more in social infrastructure such as power grids, ports and road networks.”
He also mentioned the Vision 2030 policy of the Saudi Arabian government. “Saudi Arabia welcomes South Korean enterprises’ participation in Vision 2030 projects and I hope they will have lots of investment opportunities and work very closely with my country in its framework.”