South Korean President Yoon Seok-yol arrived in Uzbekistan on June 13 with his wife. Prime Minister Abdulla Aripov and other officials met them at Tashkent International Airport. The next day, an official welcoming ceremony for the South Korean president took place at the Koksaroy residence.
On this topic, Daryo interviewed political scientist Asrorbek Satarov.
- Why did the President of South Korea visit Uzbekistan?
- South Korea is one of the long-term partners of Uzbekistan. The relations of the last 7 years are very promising. During this period, foreign trade between the two countries has doubled and the figure is $7bn. At a time when geopolitical interests are clashing in the world, South Korea needs new markets. Because trade relations in the regions surrounding Central Asia are much more limited compared to previous years.
In the Korean press, this visit is referred to as K1+5. That is South Korea's cooperation with Central Asian countries. Yoon Seok-yol and his wife visited Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan for the first time. If we look at the cooperation agreements with these countries, the main perspective is centred on the economy.
- What are Uzbekistan's interests in Korea?
During the meetings held on July 14, 17 documents were signed. Among these documents, it was noted that there is a need for specialists for the Korean market and minerals necessary for the production of semiconductors. Due to the geopolitical situation, some markets were closed to Korea. In other words, countries influenced by Russia do not want to give these resources to Korea. From this point of view, the mineral raw materials necessary for Korea are available in Uzbekistan. At the same time, Central Asia is a unique market for Korea. It is home to 80 mn people. They need to buy Korean technologies. The document signed between Uzbekistan and South Korea touches upon the issue of supplying semiconductor products and establishing a production centre in Uzbekistan. During the pandemic, China was unable to supply us with semiconductor products from Korea. As a result, UzAuto started producing cars without tape recorders. Now an agreement was signed with Korea, Uzbekistan will buy semiconductor products.
If we look at the signed contracts, the first bank of the Republic of Korea that invested in Uzbekistan - Eximbank and Endo Corporation - agreed to receive bonds from our banks. Eximbank provided a large amount of funds to open UzDaewoo, the first car factory in Uzbekistan. Today, Korean companies are the largest leaders in Uzbekistan's markets. There are 726 joint ventures between Uzbekistan and Korea.
Because of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, capitalist countries are opening their markets to the labour force of post-Soviet countries. The purpose of this is to reduce dependence on Russia. Now it is much easier to work and study in Korea than 4-5 years ago. Grants for students who know Korean and English are increasing. Uzbekistan can cooperate with Korea in training specialists. However, students who studied in Korea for 2 years should not stay there. That is, we should not become a country that provides a labour force for Korean companies.
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