President Roh Moo-hyun said Thursday that South Korea will continue to expand economic cooperation with Uzbekistan and help Korean enterprises increase investments in the central Asian country.

Roh made the remarks while receiving Erkin Khalilov, speaker of Uzbekistan’s Legislature Chamber, at Chongwadae [ROK presidential offices], according to Roh’s deputy spokesman Kim Jeong-seop.

"Roh expressed satisfaction at progresses in the South Korea-Uzbekistan strategic alliance established through a series of summit meetings between 2005 and 2006 and called for sustained expansion of the relations," Kim said.

"In response, Khalilov stressed his country’s relations with South Korea have special and preferential importance."

Khalilov noted that his country has bolstered its cooperative ties with Korea in various fields including energy and resources to promote the bilateral strategic partnership, which was proposed during summit talks in 2005 and 2006.He added that Tashkent has increased its support for ethnic Korean communities in Uzbekistan as part of these cooperative measures.

Mr Khalilov arrived in Seoul on Wednesday for a three-day visit.