The 16th Central Asia-South Korea Cooperation Forum, which was held in Ashgabat, contributed to strengthening international partnerships. The six-party format of interaction was aimed at finding new opportunities for mutually beneficial economic cooperation. A senior lecturer at the IIR of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan Perhat Charyev shared the nuances of this event with CentralAsia.news.
The political scientist noted that President of Turkmenistan Serdar Berdimuhamedov received the foreign ministers of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and South Korea before the forum. The parties discussed the initiatives aimed at promoting international trade, economic, cultural, humanitarian, scientific and educational cooperation.
The Central Asia-South Korea Cooperation Forum took place on November 1. It provided a platform for an exhibition of achievements of the participating countries. The conference focused on using Korea’s advanced experience in boosting social and economic growth, introducing innovative technologies and training specialists in the Central Asian region. Following the forum, the parties adopted a Joint Declaration of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs and approved the work plan of the Central Asia-South Korea Secretariat for 2024.
Charyev noted that a business forum of young entrepreneurs from Central Asia and South Korea took place on November 1. The participants exchanged knowledge and experience in encouraging youth entrepreneurship in the region, establishing cooperation with international organisations, using innovations in strategic areas of progress and searching for potential partners and opportunities for building business contacts. The South Korean companies expressed their readiness to contribute to creating a unified digital space for the Central Asian states, which would promote the development of electronic commerce and the exchange of information in this area.
The expert stated that currently the South Korean biggest companies, including Samsung, LG, Hyundai and Daewoo, operate on the Turkmen market in the energy, transport, communications and industrial sectors. Charyev emphasised that the large-scale projects implemented jointly with the companies from South Korea include the construction of a natural gas desulfurization plant on the Galkynysh field and a gas chemical plant that produce polyethylene and polypropylene. Furthermore, telecommunications, space, shipbuilding and water resources management may become priority areas of Turkmenistan-South Korea cooperation.
The specialist mentioned the meeting between Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan Rashid Meredov and his Korean counterpart Park Jin. The politicians discussed the current state and prospects of interstate relations. Following the talks, the parties signed several documents on healthcare, education, trade and economic relations and diplomacy.
