Uzbek and South Korean officials on Monday signed agreements on gas and air transport co-operation as the countries' presidents hailed the nations' ties. South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak noted that about 180,000 ethnic Koreans live in Uzbekistan and that this presence was stimulating trade and co-operation.
"Despite the world financial crisis, Uzbekistan's economy is booming.... Uzbekistan is our main partner in Central Asia," Lee told reporters at a news conference with Uzbek President Islam Karimov. At the talks in Tashkent, the Korea National Oil Corporation signed memoranda of understanding on oil and gas exploration in the Fergana Valley in the east of the country and in the gas-rich Ustyurt area in the far west.
And Uzbek state energy firm Uzbekneftegas signed an accord with a South Korean consortium comprised of the KEXIM and KEIC financial institutions on developing the Surgil gas field and on building a gas-chemical plant.
Karimov said Uzbekistan had opened a vast amount of its territory for oil and gas exploration by Korean firms, also including DAEWOO International. "The total size of the fields provided for geological survey and development for South Korean companies, including DAEWOO international, is around 44,500 square kilometres (17,100 square miles), which in plain language equals almost half the territory of the Korean republic," said Karimov, smiling broadly.
Uzbek and South Korean officials also agreed to step up co-operation at an air logistics hub set up by Korean Air in the central city of Navoi and launched in January this year. The hub is also being used as a transit point for non-military supplies for Nato forces in Afghanistan, Karimov said. Karimov added that South Korea had invested over two billion dollars (1.47 billion euros) in Uzbekistan in total, while trade turnover last year was worth over one billion dollars.