Leaders of South Korea and Qatar agreed Wednesday to bolster cooperation in infrastructure, energy, IT and medical services to strengthen ties and mark the 40th anniversary of diplomatic relations this year.

At a summit at Cheong Wa Dae, President Park Geun-hye requested her counterpart Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani to offer more opportunities for Korean firms to participate in the infrastructure projects planned for the 2022 World Cup. The oil-rich gulf state will host the event and plans to spend about $100 billon on construction projects including railroads, expressways, harbors and stadiums.

“The two countries have maintained a close relationship in the fields of energy and construction, but I believe the cooperation between the two countries could go beyond the existing sectors, to medical services, defense and information technology,” Park said during a summit with the Qatari leader.

The emir told Park that Korean companies had played a crucial role in the development of the Middle Eastern country, and that he hoped to use the summit as an opportunity to expand bilateral cooperation. Qatar’s emir arrived in Seoul on Tuesday for a two-day state visit. It was his first visit to South Korea after he took power last year.

Korean companies have been eyeing a number of projects, including the development of Lusail, the newest planned city in Qatar, and desalination and petrochemical plants planned in Ras Laffan, northern Qatar.

The two sides also agreed to seek ways to enter new markets together by combining South Korea’s advanced technology and Qatar’s capital.

The South Korean government asked Qatar to participate in a $14 billion project to build a coal-fueled power plant in the Afsin-Elbistan region in Turkey, some 600 kilometers south of Ankara.

In 2012, a consortium of Korean firms signed a memorandum of understanding with Turkey’s state-run Electricity Generation to refurbish four existing power-generating units and build two more units to increase its capacity to generate electricity.

Under the memorandum of understanding signed Wednesday, South Korea and Qatar will set up a joint committee to expand cooperation in entering the new markets.

The South Korean government also requested Qatar’s cooperation in securing a stable energy supply in the future. Qatar is the largest exporter of liquefied natural gas and the fifth-largest exporter of crude oil to Korea. In 2013, South Korea imported a total of 13.6 million ton of natural gas from the Middle Eastern country and 860,000 barrels of crude oil.

The two sides also agreed to expand cooperation in the medical sector, particularly in the fields of e-health, pharmaceuticals and medical equipment.

Under the MOU signed Wednesday, Qatar plans to consider sending patients to South Korea for intensive medical treatment and adopting the Asian country’s health insurance review and assessment system.

“Since 2009, the two sides have discussed to expand medical cooperation,” said an official at Cheong Wa Dae.

“Qatar’s health authorities suggested to sign the MOU first and then to proceed discussion on sending (Qatari) patients (to South Korea),” he added.

In recent years, the South Korean government has been promoting Korean medical services to Middle Eastern countries, citing growing global interest in Korea’s health system.

More than 3,500 people from the Middle East visited South Korea on medical tours last year, a 54 percent increase from the previous year, officials added.

By Cho Chung-un (christory@heraldcorp.com)