The Qatar Embassy in Seoul on Tuesday celebrated the country’s national day, commemorating the unification of Qatar on Dec. 1878.

Qatar’s national day, which falls on Dec. 18, marks the anniversary of the accession of Sheikh Jassim bin Mohammed bin Thani. In 1878, he unified the peninsula bordered by Saudi Arabia and surrounded by the Persian Gulf.

Delivering welcome remarks at the annual celebration, Qatar Ambassador to Korea Khalid Ibrahim al-Hamar welcomed the progress and development of Qatar-Korea relations in 2021.

As part of the celebrations, a lucky draw was also held to award one of the event’s guests with Qatar Airways tickets to visit Qatar, as well as other top prizes that included five replicas of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 soccer balls.

Al-Hamar said Qatar is the largest liquefied natural gas supplier in the world today, with a production capacity of 77 million metric tons per annum and fleet of 69 vessels.

Qatar’s LNG shipments to Korea reached close to 10 million tons annually, or approximately 30 percent of Korea’s energy needs.

In July this year, South Korea’s state-run Korea Gas Corp. signed an agreement with Qatar to purchase an additional 2 million metric tons of liquefied natural gas for 20 years starting from 2025.

Korea, the world’s third-largest LNG importer after China and Japan as of 2019, imports around 38 million tons a year from Qatar and Australia.

“These milestone agreements indicate the close relationship between Qatar and Korea and highlights Korea’s position as a key and strategic energy partner,” the Qatari ambassador said.

Diplomatic relations between Qatar and Korea started in 1974 with the opening of the Qatar Embassy in Seoul in 1992.

Al-Hamar stressed that Korea is an important trading partner for Qatar, and said he hopes the ongoing cooperation would reach beyond the energy and construction sectors to include health care, education, smart grids, agriculture, training and capacity building.