About 400 local and foreign figures from various walks of life will participate in the event and discuss how to strengthen ties, a ministry official said.

The forum, the third of its kind, will focus on ways to strengthen competitiveness, create a new growth engine and exchange human resources, the report said.

The next day, delegates from the Central Asian countries will join a forum on investment hosted by the Federation of Korean Industries and visit Songdo City in Incheon, he said.