The "silk road of the 21st century" would "combine South Korea’s world-class IT and digital technologies with Uzbekistan’s geographical advantage as a gateway to Central Asia to become a hub of cargo transportation," Lee said at a luncheon meeting, according to excerpts released ahead of his speech.

Lee was addressing some 160 Korean and Uzbek officials and business representatives, including Uzbek Prime Minister Shavkat Mirzieyev.

"The countries must now establish a digital silk road based on WiBro technology that was commercialized by South Korea for the first time in the world," Lee told the meeting.

The South Korean president is currently on a state visit that began Sunday. He held a summit with his Uzbek counterpart Islam Karimov earlier Monday, and will head to Kazakhstan Tuesday for a three-day visit there.

Bilateral trade between Seoul and Tashkent jumped nearly five times in just six years from US$280 million in 2002 to US$1.38 billion last year, according to Cheong Wa Dae, the South Korean presidential office.

South Korea and Uzbekistan signed a total of 16 deals earlier Monday that included a contract on the joint exploration and drilling of oil and gas fields in Uzbekistan’s Namangan-Tergachi and Chust-Pap regions.

The areas are believed to hold as much as 10.5 million tons of gas and 9.2 million tons of oil, according to South Korean officials.