Seoul has further cemented its links with the UAE by signing up to work on renewable energy developments with Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company (Masdar).

South Korea’s Ministry of Knowledge Economy signed a memorandum with Masdar on 28 December in a ceremony attended by the Asian state’s president Lee Myung-bak. Under the terms of the memorandum, Seoul will work with Masdar on a series of renewable energy research projects, and may build clean technology development facilities in Masdar’s planned carbon-neutral city development.

The agreement also opens the door for joint investments in wind, solar and other renewable energy projects.

The agreement comes a day after the UAE signed up a South Korean consortium to develop the emirates’ first nuclear power facilities at an estimated cost of $40bn (MEED 27:12:2009).

South Korean engineering firms have also become increasingly dominant in the oil and gas projects market, with Seoul-based firms taking all of the main construction packages on the $10bn Abu Dhabi Oil Refining Company (Takreer) scheme to build a new refinery at Ruwais in November (MEED 22:11:2009).