Ambassador of Uzbekistan to South Korea Vitali Fen spoke to The Korea Times on the occasion of the first Korea-Central Asia Cooperation Forum to be held in Seoul on 15 November.

This is the first time the Korean government is hosting such a large-scale gathering by inviting high-level official delegations from five Central Asian nations, the ambassador said.

Among them, the Republic of Uzbekistan enjoys mutually beneficial and multilevel cooperation with the Republic of Korea, which has been one of the top priorities in our foreign policy since our two countries established diplomatic relations in 1992.

The government of Uzbekistan highly appreciates the fact, that the policy of the Korean leadership toward our country has been long-term and systematic.

The friendly relations between the two countries have their roots in ancient history.

In the seventh century, the government of Goguryeo sent its envoy to the ancient state of Sogd (present-day Uzbekistan) for the conclusion of the agreement on cooperation.

Buddhism, which became the spiritual basis of the Korean people, came to Korea from India Central Asia and the Great Silk Road. It clearly explains why Uzbek and Korean people have so many similar features in their spiritual life and mentality.

During the last state visit of President Islam Karimov of Uzbekistan to Korea in March 2006, this relationship has been upgraded to the present level of strategic partnership between the two countries.

The joint declaration on strategic partnership signed by the two Presidents Islam Karimov and Roh Moo-hyun of Korea was the major achievement of this visit as well as creating a solid legal basis for the promotion of further bilateral relations in years to come.

Uzbekistan and Korea share similar views on many matters of the international and regional policy. As for the latter Uzbekistan consistently supports development and strengthening of inter-regional cooperation in various formats: Euro-Asian economic community, the Shanghai cooperation organization, the Conference on interaction and confidence building measures in Asia etc.

The trade and economic cooperation between our countries has a dynamic and mutually beneficial character.

On the one hand, Uzbekistan possesses rich energy and mineral reserves along with a cheap but skilled labor force while Korea, on the other hand, has high-tech and financial resources.

In addition, Uzbekistan has the largest ethnic Korean community among the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) nations numbering nearly 230,000 becoming an integral part of our society and enjoying the same rights and freedoms as the Uzbek majority.

There are about 200 schools where the Korean language is taught, and nine universities where Korean language and literature departments are in operation, as well as the Association of Korean cultural centers which include 29 branches throughout the country.

We hope that during the first Korea-Central Asia Cooperation Forum, Korea will share with us its experience in rapid and sustainable economic development, which have a great value for the transition economies in Central Asia.

There is no doubt that the coming forum will indeed serve as a new opportunity to extend the scope of cooperation between the Central Asian countries and Korea to a wide range of areas, from resources and energy to information-technology (IT), agriculture, construction, education and tourism.

In addition, it will establish a practical channel for a regular dialogue between our nations to discuss a wide range of issues concerned, to promote multilateral cooperation in different areas and people-to-people exchanges.

Wishing all the best to the first Korea-Central Asia Cooperation Forum, I would like once again to express my sincere appreciation and gratitude to the people and government of Korea for the close and friendly cooperation and assistance extended to the Central Asian countries over the years.