25th April 2012 : His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al-Khalifa, Crown Prince and Chairman of the Economic Development Board (EDB) will start a visit to the Republic of South Korea on 30th of April 2012 to discuss opportunities to boost bilateral economic ties between the two countries. HRH the Crown Prince will be accompanied by representatives from the private sector and businessmen from various economic sectors in Bahrain.

The visit of HRH the Crown Prince to South Korea is in support of the efforts of the EDB in attracting global investment to Bahrain. These included visits organized by the EDB in collaboration with the private sector to the United States and Europe to meet officials from the public and private sectors.

Relations between Bahrain and South Korea developed notably in recent years, and the two countries plan to establish a joint business council between them. Trade exchange between them totaled $844 million in 2011.

Bahrain exports about $500 million worth of goods per year to South Korea and its imports reach $300 million. Bahrain’s exports include petroleum and aluminum products.

In February 2011, a consortium between South Korea’s Samsung Engineering and Abu Dhabi’s Invest AD won a concession to build and operate a sewage project in Bahrain. The two firms along with Britain’s United Utilities will take equity in the Muharraq sewage treatment plant and waste water system project.

In October 2010, Bapco hired South Korea’s GS Engineering and Construction to build its USD 120mn water treatment plant which is expected to be completed by the third quarter of 2012.

South Korea, one of the Asian Tigers, has a market economy which ranks 14th in the world by nominal GDP and 12th by purchasing power parity (PPP), making it one of the G-20 major economies. It is a high-income developed country and is a member of OECD. South Korea’s economic growth rate reached 6.2 percent in 2010, and the unemployment rate in South Korea also remained low in 2009 at 3.6%.

The South Korean economy is heavily dependent on international trade. In 2010, Korea's trade volume amounted to US$892 billion, ranking the country the 7th largest exporter in the world. Korea ranks the world’s sixth in terms of foreign reserves.

Much like other countries, the Korean economy has also been affected by the global economic downturn nevertheless it was one of the few developed countries that were able to avoid a recession.