The fifth meeting of the Forum “Republic of Korea – Central Asia” was held in Tashkent on 15 November. Delegations of the Republic of Korea, as well as Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan exchanged views on development of cooperation during the meeting.

The purpose of the forum, which has been held annually since 2007, is to strengthen and expand the cooperation in economy, information and communication technologies, construction and transport, science, culture, education, tourism and other areas.

The relations between Uzbekistan and South Korea have been successfully developing in all directions. The legal basis for this are the agreements reached at the meetings of the heads of two states. South Korea is one of the largest investment partners of Uzbekistan. The total volume of South Korean investments in Uzbekistan’s economy has exceeded USD 5 billion.

A number of joint projects with South Korean companies are being implemented in the mining and textile industries, production of household appliances. One of the main areas of bilateral cooperation is bringing advanced technologies from South Korea for construction of new productions in Uzbekistan and modernization of existing enterprises.

A major project – construction of the Ustyurt gas chemical complex – was launched during the visit of the South Korean President Lee Myung-bak to Uzbekistan this August. USD 2.6 billion of direct investments will be used for the construction of the complex.

The government and the business circles of South Korea support the projects of development of the free industrial economic zone Navoi and creation of the intercontinental logistics centre there.

The forum participants exchanged views on the development of cooperation between the Republic of Korea and the countries of Central Asia in the field of science and technology, regional development in the field of e-government, sports and other issues, UzA informs.