Mubasher: South Korea's new Ambassador to Qatar Kim Chang-mo said that there is a huge potential expansion concerning investment cooperation between Qatar and Korea.

Chang-mo revealed his country’s interest for further cooperation during his first meeting with local media on Sunday at the new location of the Korean embassy.

Bilateral trade between Doha and Seoul recorded $11.7 billion during the full-year 2017, according to Qatar Tribune newspaper.

Korean exports to Qatar amounted to $435 million, distributed mainly over vehicle, heavy construction equipment, and transformer, while the East Asian nation's imports amounted to $11.3 billion, mainly liquefied natural gas (LNG), crude oil and naphtha. It is worth noting that Qatar is the first LNG provider to Korea.

As for investments, Qatari investments to South Korea amounted to $593.5 million during the period between 2009 and 2017, with six projects mainly in entertainment, industrial robot, and cosmetics.

However, there are about 20 Korean companies stationed and operating in Qatar, most of them are in the construction and energy sectors.

"I feel, after one year of blockade, Qatar is more confident. I think they can now overcome this difficulty and can also utilise this crisis as another opportunity to strengthen their industries," the ambassador commented.

Since 5 June 2017, Qatar has been facing outflows of foreign customers' deposits after four Arab countries led by Saudi Arabia cut their diplomatic and trade ties with the gas-rich state, accusing Qatar of financing terrorism. Doha forcefully denies the charges.