His Highness General Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces has arrived in Seoul leading a UAE delegation to the Nuclear Security Summit (NSS) which starts today.

More than 53 countries, a number of world leaders and heads of international organizations will attend the two-day summit, including UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

The UAE delegation accompanying Sheikh Mohammed includes H.H. Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Foreign Minister, Khaldoon Khalifa Al Mubarak, Chairman of Abu Dhabi Executive Affairs Authority (EAA), Nasser Ahmed Al Suweidi, Chairman of Abu Dhabi Department of Economic Development, Mohammed Mubarak Al Mazrouei, Under-Secretary of the Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Court, Abdulla Khalfan Al Rumaithi, UAE ambassador to South Korea and Ambassador Hamad Al Ka'abi, the UAE's Permanent Representative to the International Atomic Energy Agency.

On his arrival last night, Sheikh Mohammed said the UAE’s ties with South Korea had seen “great strategic shifts” since signing of a US$20billion nuclear power deal last year.

Sheikh Mohammed, who is in Seoul on a three-day diplomatic and economic visit to South Korea, held talks with the South Korean President, Lee Myung-bak, ahead of a state banquet in the capital.

UAE-South Korean relations have strengthened since the signing of the US$20billion (Dh73.4bn) deal in December with a consortium of South Korean firms to build four nuclear-energy plants in the Emirates.

“There is no doubt the mutual relationship between the two countries has witnessed great strategic shifts with the winning of the Korean consortium,” said Sheikh Mohammed. The program reflects the UAE's interest in clean energy as an alternative to less environment-friendly fuels such as oil and gas, officials said. The first reactor is expected to be operational by 2017.

Source: WAM; TheNational