Since the 1990s, The ROK Government has been exerting efforts to lay the foundation of sustainable cooperation with the Middle Eastern countries in response to economic strategies of the Middle East countries to prepare the post-oil era. Two oil shocks in the 1970s prompted the ROK Government to serve to emphasize the strategic importance of the Middle East thereafter it started to pursue amicable foreign policies toward the Middle East countries in order to secure a stable oil supply and construction projects from which the ROK economy benefited. During the 1970s and 1980s, the economic ties between the ROK and the Middle East were concentrated in the field of the oil industry, infrastructure, and plant construction. The economic cooperation has been developed remarkably along with the development of the diplomatic relations of the ROK with the region. Countries with which Korea has diplomatic ties include : Saudi Arabia, Israel, Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Mauritania, Bahrain, the UAE, Algeria, Oman, Jordan, Iran, Egypt, Qatar, Kuwait, Tunisia and Yemen. Korea has diplomatic relations with 18 Middle Eastern countries, where there are seventeen Embassies and two Consulate Generals. Since the establishment of diplomatic relations with Israel, Morocco, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Iran in 1962, the Republic of Korea has continued to expand its diplomatic ties with the Middle East and North Africa. In 1960s, in the midst of the détente between East and West and the birth of newly independent nations in the Middle East and Africa, the ROK Government established diplomatic relations with the Middle Eastern countries, initiating from the consular relations with Egypt in 1961. Due to its abundant natural resources and strategic importance, the security of the Middle East region is closely linked to the stability of the rest of the world and global security. The Middle East is a region which contains 6% of the world’s population, 60% of the world’s oil reserves and 45% of the world’s natural gas reserves.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |