President Moon Jae-in, who is on an official visit to the United Arab Emirates, met with Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai. They reached an agreement to enhance and diversify mutually beneficial and forward-looking substantive cooperation between Korea and the Emirate of Dubai, a foothold for Korea to advance into the Middle East and Africa. 

President Moon noted that his visit was an opportune time to explore measures for reciprocal bilateral collaboration at a higher level because the leadership of both nations continued to push for innovation and openness.

The Prime Minister said that he was well aware of Korea’s progress from his two previous visits to the country. He proposed that the two leaders engage in concrete discussions on how Korea and Dubai could work together following the upgrading of bilateral ties to a special strategic partnership on the occasion of President Moon’s visit.

President Moon said he respected the leadership of the UAE Prime Minister who helped achieve the miracle of Dubai in the desert. He went on to say that the accomplishment attested to the unrivaled level of the reform drive in turning imagination into reality and of leadership that made things happen.

President Moon said Korea has so far held two Expos in a successful manner and wished for the success of the Expo 2020 Dubai, the first BIE-registered Expo to be held in the Middle East. Noting that Korea`s experiences would contribute to its success, President Moon said Korea would install an extra-large Korean pavilion to this end. 

The Prime Minister said he heard that an increasing number of Korean students were coming to Dubai for study and that it was pleasing and encouraging for Korean students to learn about the customs and culture of the UAE. He expressed the hope that an increasing number of UAE students would be able to go to Korea to learn more about the country. 

In response, President Moon said last year alone saw about 200,000 Koreans visit the UAE, of which 140,000 dropped by Dubai. Commenting on the necessity to increase people-to-people exchanges, the President said if more students from both countries learned about each other`s culture and language, it would go a long way toward advancing relations between the two countries.   

Noting that the UAE had created the position of Minister of State for Youth, President Moon said it came as a surprise to him. The President went on to say that there was also a demand in Korea to establish a youth committee that could represent the interests of young people but the Korean Government had not even conceived the idea of doing it. 

The Prime Minister said that creating the Youth Minister position was a risky undertaking and experiment for himself. He went on to say that the first Youth Minister was a 22-year-old female and she executed her work well, adding that the UAE also had a Minister of State for Happiness. Then, President Moon told his staff present at the meeting to take note of it. 

The Prime Minister presented President Moon with his book, Reflections on Happiness and Positivity, and the President asked the Prime Minister to visit Korea at the earliest date possible.