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Ailyn Agonia
Doha
"I AM very happy for the opportunity to serve my first ambassadorial duty in Qatar as the country is one of the most important and friendly with Korea in many aspects," said Ambassador of Korea to Qatar HE Kim Chang-Mo.
Chang-Mo, a career diplomat, was among the new Ambassadors to the State who presented their credentials to the Deputy Amir HH Sheikh Abdullah bin Hamad al Thani recently.
Prior to being assigned in Qatar, he has been dispatched to the United Kingdom, Afghanistan, Austria, Pakistan and the United Nations in New York.
"In an article on Qatar's trade record published in a Qatari local paper a few weeks ago, it was stated that Korea became Qatar's number one export destination, last May, sharing 17 percent of Qatar's total export. For Korea, Qatar is number one supplier of the liquefied natural gas too. During my tenure, I would like to try my best to further strengthen our bilateral relations not only in trade and energy areas, but other cultural, societal areas too."
Speaking about the focus of his leadership, Chang-Mo told Qatar Tribune:"Qatar and Korea have many things in common. For example, we are relatively small countries surrounded by bigger neighbours. But, we are achieving records in very rapid and successful economic growth under a visionary leadership. Therefore, we could find many potential areas for cooperation."
The Ambassador also stressed the important role of cultural exchange in diplomatic relations. Given the welcoming response of Qatari youth to Korean B-boy team that visited Qatar last year, he said they are planning to invite more Korean performers to the country this autumn. Similarly, he said, traditional Qatari dance could attract a lot of curiosity among the Korean people.
In the public health and medical sectors, Chang-Mo said the two countries are actively cooperating since they adopted an MoU in this area in 2014. Bilateral medical forums were held twice in Doha up until today, where doctors from both countries cooperated in exchanging knowledge and experience through educational seminars and in surgeries, the official added.
In sports, Ambassador Chang-Mo said Korea can help Qatar in many areas of preparations given the country's experience in hosting the 1988 Summer Olympics and the 2002 FIFA World Cup.
"Korea is willing to share its experience with Qatar. Some Korean companies are participating in construction projects of World Cup-related facilities. We are eager to contribute further for Qatar to make the 2022 FIFA World Cup a success," the Ambassador said.
