SEOUL, September 14 (AJP) - President Lee Jae Myung will begin three days of back-to-back diplomacy with the leaders of five Central Asian countries from Monday, ahead of South Korea’s first multilateral summit with the region.
Lee will hold a bilateral summit with Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev on Monday afternoon, followed by talks with the leaders of Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan on Tuesday and Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan on Wednesday.
He is also scheduled to meet Asian Development Bank President Masato Kanda on Monday morning.
The inaugural Korea-Central Asia Summit will take place in Seoul on Wednesday, bringing together the leaders of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.
The summit will mark the first time South Korea and the five Central Asian countries have brought their long-running multilateral cooperation to the leaders’ level.
Seoul launched the Korea-Central Asia Cooperation Forum in 2007 as a regular dialogue mechanism, and established a permanent secretariat in 2017. The government now plans to adopt a “Seoul Declaration” laying out a longer-term vision for cooperation.
The summit is expected to focus on critical minerals, energy and supply-chain diversification, combining Central Asia’s abundant resources with South Korea’s technology and industrial capabilities. Seoul is also seeking stronger cooperation on infrastructure, regulations and intellectual property to help Korean companies expand into the region.
A Korea-Central Asia business summit attended by around 500 government and corporate representatives is scheduled to follow the leaders’ meeting.
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