Trade volume between Qatar and South Korea increased by 44% to reach $16.8bn in 2018, according to the latest figures provided by the South Korean mission based in Doha. 
South Korea’s exports to Qatar increased by nearly 21% from the previous year, due largely to electrical equipment used in electricity network projects, with the participation of South Korean companies, ambassador Chang-mo Kim told Gulf Times.
Similarly, Qatar’s exports to South Korea also soared by around 45%, mainly led by natural gas, crude oil, and petroleum products, Kim said.
Qatar’s major imports from South Korea comprise electrical equipment, automobile, heavy machinery, petroleum products, and steel pipes, while Qatar’s export items to South Korea include natural gas, crude oil, petroleum products, aluminium, and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG).
“Currently, Qatar is the top supplier of LNG to South Korea, while our country is the number one or number two export destination of Qatar. Our relationship is not only limited to the energy sector. The embassy is now focusing on new areas of co-operation, such as agriculture, science and technology, ICT, public health, and medical industry, just to name a few. 
“I believe the seven MoUs signed between the two states during His Highness the Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani’s visit to South Korea early this year reflect the growing partnership between Doha and Seoul,” Kim said, adding that His Highness the Amir’s visit to Seoul in January “set another milestone in the longstanding history of friendship between the two countries.”
He noted that the visit followed a series of high-level exchanges that took place between 2018 and 2019, including visits to Qatar by South Korea’s Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport; the Minister of Commerce, and the Minister of Health, as well as the visit to South Korea by HE the Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohamed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani.
“These exchanges have resulted in robust co-operation in several areas, forged new economic and commercial linkages, and deepened people-to-people engagement. In that sense, the embassy will spare no efforts to further facilitate high-level exchanges in the near future,” he stressed.
Kim said there are around 14 South Korean companies operating in Qatar, mostly in construction and engineering. The companies are also participating in 31 various projects amounting to $12bn, ranging from expressways, hospitals, power plants, and electric network facilities.
He said South Korea’s investment in Qatar “is estimated at around $71mn in an accumulated amount of 250 individual cases since 1968,” in vast ranges of industries from construction, facility management, rental service, to manufacturing. 
“Qatar’s investment in South Korea is not so conspicuous. For the last 10 years, Qatar invested about $800,000 in entertainment, construction, auto parts, industrial robot, and cosmetics.
“As South Korea has many worldly competitive industries such as semiconductor, electronics, ship-building, and ICT, we expect more investments will come from Qatar and further strengthen mutually-beneficial co-operation,” Kim said.