SEOUL, July 16 (Yonhap) — First Vice Foreign Minister Kim Hong-kyun will visit Saudi Arabia and Qatar later this week for high-level talks on bilateral relations and other issues, the foreign ministry said Tuesday.

Kim’s trip, set for Tuesday through Friday, comes as a follow-up to President Yoon Suk Yeol’s state visits to the two Middle Eastern nations last October, the ministry said in a release.

During the visits last year, Yoon held separate summits with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, and agreed to diversify economic cooperation and bolster business opportunities for South Korean companies.

Deals and memoranda of understanding worth US$15.6 billion were signed with Riyadh, including in the sectors of crude oil, hydrogen energy, statistics, food and medical products. In Doha, South Korea’s HD Hyundai Heavy Industries signed a $3.9 billion contract with a Qatari petroleum company to build 17 liquefied natural gas carriers.