Kuwait's prime minister to visit Korea this week

Kuwait's Prime Minister Jaber Mubarak Al-Sabah will visit Seoul this week for talks with high-level South Korean government officials and business leaders to bolster bilateral economic cooperation, the Foreign Ministry said Monday.

Jaber will arrive here on Sunday for a four-day visit on the invitation of South Korean Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn. Korea is the fourth leg of his five-nation trip to Asia that includes Bangladesh, Vietnam, Hong Kong and Japan.

During his stay here, he is scheduled to pay a courtesy call on President Park Geun-hye, hold talks with his South Korean counterpart Hwang and meet with leaders of major firms and medical facilities here, the ministry said in a press release.

It was his first visit to South Korea since he took office in December 2011. He is to be accompanied by the Middle Eastern country's ministers in charge of oil, education, housing, foreign affairs and healthcare, the ministry said.

"Since President Park visited Kuwait in March 2015, the two countries have continued bilateral exchanges among high-level officials. Despite a fall in oil prices, our enterprises have actively advanced into Kuwait's market," the ministry said.

"We hope that Prime Minister Jaber's visit this time would serve as an opportunity to further deepen and expand such cooperative ties between the two countries."

The trade volume between the two countries was tallied at US$9.89 billion last year, according to data from the Korea International Trade Association. (Yonhap)