Enhancing cooperation between the Municipal System and the Republic of South Korea

As step to enhance cooperation and exchange knowledge and experience in the Municipal field, a delegation from the Municipal System in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi pays a one week visit to the Republic of South Korea starting September 10^th. The delegation is headed by  H.E. Dr. Abdullah Ghareeb Al-Baloushi, Managing Director of the Municipal Affairs Support Sector at the Department of Municipal Affairs ( DMA) and includes a number of officials in different sectors in the DMA and the Emirate’s 3 Municipalities, Abu Dhabi City, Al Ain City and the Western Region.

The delegation will meet a number of officials in South Korea mainly specialized in the Municipal work and will be touring different public utilities. As well as touring Municipal operational sites and infrastructure projects, the visit will focus on enhancing knowledge and cooperation in areas related to building permit services and electronic systems, urban development, Municipal planning, and issuing No Objection Certificates in different sectors using the Geographic Information System. Among other priorities and tasks during this visit will be to have a close look at practices and procedures applied in the Municipal work and services.

H.E Dr. Abdullah Ghareeb Al-Baloushi, Managing  Director of the Municipal Affairs Support Sector at the Department of Municipal Affairs commented on the trip by saying that it aims to enhance cooperation between both sides referring to the advanced relations between the UAE and South Korea in all different sectors. Dr. Al-Baloushi added “ this visit will enable us to share our collective knowledge and experience in different areas in the Municipal work like sustainable infrastructure projects, Municipal planning, urban development, smart cities and electronic services. The visit will widen our experience to enhance services provided by the Municipal System to the residents and investors in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi”.

The enhancement of cooperation between the UAE and South Korea in the Municipal field comes at a time where the relationship between both countries witnessed a tremendous development in all sectors, economic, trade and investment during the last few  years, whereas the trade volume between the two countries rose by 24% in 2011  to reach USD 23 billion with the expectations of further improvement in the current year.