On March 25th of this year, a meeting was held at the Ministry of Investment, Industry and Trade with Jeong Byung-won, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Korea, dedicated to current issues of bilateral economic partnership in various fields of mutual interest.
The achieved indicators of breakthrough growth in trade and investment cooperation were highlighted. Trade turnover has doubled from $1.3 billion in 2017 to $2.3 billion in 2023. In the first two months of this year, the volume of bilateral trade increased by 20% compared to the same period last year. Over the last five years, the number of enterprises with Korean capital in Uzbekistan has doubled to 983 units, of which more than half – 605 – are based on 100% foreign capital. The need to continue working on increasing the volumes of mutual trade was emphasized.
During the conversation, in light of the special strategic partnership between the two countries, measures for the timely implementation of agreements at the highest level and the expansion of investment cooperation were discussed. In this context, the Korean side confirmed the readiness of the Government of Korea to increase financial and technical assistance for the implementation of socially significant projects and to jointly implement large investment projects in Uzbekistan in the fields of metallurgy, electrical products manufacturing, and infrastructure development.
The prospects for strengthening direct links between representatives of the business communities of Uzbekistan and South Korea were analyzed separately. Mechanisms for working out and conducting interregional forums were agreed upon, during which business representatives will be able to discuss joint opportunities, conclude agreements, and contracts.
As a result of the conversation, an agreement was reached on the development of a joint roadmap for increasing and diversifying mutual trade, as well as attracting major Korean companies to implement promising investment projects in our country.