Senior defense officials of South Korea and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) held talks Wednesday to discuss the security situation and ways to advance their defense and arms industry cooperation, Seoul’s Defense Ministry said, Yonhap news agency reported.

The Vice Defense Ministerial-level steering committee meeting between South Korea’s Vice Defense Minister Lee Doo-hee and his UAE counterpart, Ibrahim Nasser Mohammed Al Alawi, took place in Seoul earlier in the day, the Ministry said.

In the meeting, the officials agreed to expand joint training and exchanges of personnel and push for long-term cooperation in the arms industry and the defense science and technology sector.

They also exchanged opinions on key issues, including the security situation, in which the UAE official expressed support for dialogue and diplomacy in Seoul’s efforts to establish peace on the Korean Peninsula, according to the Ministry.

As part of the visit, Al Alawi paid a courtesy call on Defense Minister Ahn Gyu-back the previous day. He plans to visit a South Korean air base in the southern city of Sacheon for a test flight of a prototype of South Korea’s homegrown KF-21 fighter jet.

In April, the two countries signed a letter of intent for comprehensive cooperation on the KF-21 jets. (Sources & Photo © South Korean Ministry of Defense/Yonhap)