The pace of South Korea's economic recovery is unrivalled in the last six decades. From being a mostly unskilled manpower exporter a few decades ago, South Korea has transformed into a technology exporter. It is estimated that about 1.1 million Koreans worked in the Arab world between 1975 and 1985, a large chunk of them in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. Currently, only a fraction of them are part of the region's expatriate dynamic.

Another example of its transformation is that Seoul approached the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in late 1997 for assistance to avoid an external payments crisis. Just a decade later, it was ranked 13th in the world with a GDP of $1.3 trillion in 2009 and was 12th in 2019 with a GDP of $1.6 trillion.

South Korean companies are now playing a dominant role in the region. LG, Samsung, Hyundai, etc., have become household names. These and others are involved not just in the construction and automobile sectors, but also renewable energy, oiland gas-related industries, medium-sized businesses, healthcare, and information communication technology realms.

The Gulf countries too have transformed from being quiet backwaters to some of the Middle East's most important economic centres. The governments have channeled revenues from the energy sector to shape their economies and societies, and position their countries as trade, transit and tourism hubs, while encouraging the real estate and manufacturing sectors as well.

Their growth and expansion is reflected beyond the glitz and glamour of their skyscrapers and luxury hotels. They now have state-of-the-art facilities in healthcare, education and infrastructure sectors. To sustain this expansion and develop their indigenous human capital, the GCC countries are now in the process of encouraging the development of a knowledge economy.

Amid the din of discussion about the rise of Asian giants like China and India and how the balance of economic power has moved from West to East, South Korea's success and relevance to the Gulf has received less attention. The interface between the ‘Miracle in the Desert’ and the ‘Miracle on the Han River’ garnered international attention when the UAE chose South Korea (over France and the United States) in 2009 to build the world's largest nuclear project. Since then their intensifying engagement has moved well beyond the economic domain. The diversity of sectors and experienced players at the helm augurs well for the Gulf region's ‘new’ economic boom, which is based on economic diversification.