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Dubai to invest $20b in S.Korea

Al Shaibani is on his trip to Seoul to deliver a personal letter from His Highness Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai to Lee, containing a congratulatory message on his win and hopes of stronger ties between the two countries.

"The world has changed greatly since I visited Dubai in the late-70s, and I feel that South Korea has a lot to learn from Dubai," Lee was quoted as saying by the Yonhap news agency. “As the chairman of an investment firm, I ask for your cooperation in making large investments in my country."

Al Shaibani gave a positive answer to Lee's request saying, “my country is planning to set up a fund of $20 billion to invest in South Korea."

Lee has been striving to induce investment from Dubai, appointing David Eldon, chairman of Dubai International Financial Center Authority, as co-chairman of a special committee under his transition team last month. Eldon is the first non-Korean to take such a prominent position in South Korea's presidential transition committee.

Lee, a former Chief Executive Officer of Hyundai Construction and Engineering, has been pledging to form a 'business-friendly' government, seeking ways of boosting foreign investment in Korea.

Foreign investment dropped 6.5 per cent year-on-year to $10.5 billion last year from $11.2 billion in 2006, according to recent data from the Ministry of Commerce. The figure stood at $11.6 billion in 2005. During his visit, Al Shaibani also reviewed an envisioned investment in large-scale projects promoted by the incoming Lee government including the Saemangeum land reclamation plan.

Saemangeum is South Korea's largest area of tidal flats of some 40,100-hectares, based in the north Jeolla province.

Lee vows to use the newly created land space to build a contemporary city like Dubai by devoting more of the land to industrial projects.

According to Lee's transition team, six overseas funds and companies have so far submitted letters of intent to invest in the Saemangeum and a separate project to construct cross-country waterways.

Lee also called on the need for boosting tourism between the two countries during his meeting with the Dubai envoy. "We must strengthen ties and boost the active exchange of tourists by increasing the number of flights connecting the two countries," he said.