The First Korea-Central Asia Cooperation Forum was held in Seoul on 15 November at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade with about 150 participants including government officials, corporate representatives, people from academic and cultural circles from Korea, the Kyrgyz Republic, Kazakhstan, Tadzhikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

The Central Asian delegations noted that the Korean development model, which achieved remarkable economic growth in a short period of time, will be useful to the Central Asian countries currently undergoing a transitional period of transforming their planned economy to market economy.

The Central Asian delegations noted that the First Korea-Central Asia Cooperation Forum would serve as an important opportunity to promote bilateral relations to a higher dimension. They also highly acknowledged Korea’s efforts to establish equal, mutually beneficial and cooperative relations with the Central Asian nations, and appreciated our policies toward the Islam based on humanism.

The Korean participants welcomed the First Korea-Central Asia Cooperation Forum, and proposed to strengthen bilateral cooperation by establishing ‘Korea-Central Asia Peace Community’ and ‘Korea-Central Asia Center for Cooperation,’ based on historical and cultural similarities.

Both sides agreed to further increase cooperation projects in IT, state-of-the-art technology and manufacturing industry, that reach far beyond the current ones focused on particular areas such as energy and resources.

Also, both sides noted that increasing collaborative ties in areas of culture, tourism and education will further promote the development of bilateral relations. The ROK government pledged to introduce Korean pop culture industries and actively support the exchange of visits by both Korean and Central Asian cultural missions and performance groups.

The top representatives of Korean and Central Asian delegations recognized that this has been a valuable forum to widen the range of mutual understanding in areas of economy, society and culture, as well as to strengthen links between and among their governments and main figures of the civil society. The two sides agreed to hold this meeting periodically beginning next year.

Vice Minister Cho Jung-pyo, who chaired this forum, announced a ‘Chairman’s Summary’ that summarizes the outcomes of this meeting with the consent of the heads of delegations from the 5 Central Asian countries.