President Park Geun-hye will visit Central Asia from June 16 to 21, making stops in Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan.

According to Cheong Wa Dae, President Park is scheduled to start her state visit to Uzbekistan on June 17. She will have a summit meeting with Uzbek President Islam Karimov to discuss ways to solidify their bilateral strategic partnership in the areas of politics, business, society and the arts.


The discussion agenda is expected to include the two countries' on-going economic cooperation on the Surgil natural gas and chemicals plant and the Talimarjan power plant. They will also touch on the expansion of cooperation on renewable energy, science and technology, infrastructure and textiles, as well as cultural exchanges and human resource exchanges.

President Park is also set to visit Tashkent, the Uzbek capital, to meet and give words of encouragement to leaders of the Korean community there. Uzbekistan has the largest number of ethnic Koreans in Central Asia.


On the following day, President Park will pay a visit to Samarkand, a city often dubbed as, "the heart of the Silk Road," an ancient city where the history of Eurasian trade and cultural exchanges was centered.

On June 19, President Park will make a state visit to Kazakhstan where she will have a summit meeting with President Nursultan Nazarbayev and discuss ways to enhance their bilateral strategic partnership. The two leaders are expected to discuss the successful implementation of cooperation projects, such as the construction of the Balkhash Thermal Power Plant (BTPP), the Atyrau oil refinery and the marine drilling platform in Zhambyl. They will also discuss ways to enhance cooperation on science and technology, forestry and the environment.

President Park is set to visit Turkmenistan on June 20, becoming the first Korean president to visit the country. President Park will have a bilateral summit that day with Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow to exchange views about their ongoing bilateral cooperation projects.

According to Cheong Wa Dae, President Park's visit to the three Central Asian countries will give Korean corporations a chance to enhance their business activities in the region and will help to reaffirm the friendship between Korea and the three countries. Finally, Cheong Wa Dae added that it will strengthen overall cooperation with a region of the world that is regarded as an important partner for the realization of President Park's "Eurasia Initiative" range of economic development policies.

By Wi Tack-whan, Lee Seung-ah
Korea.net Staff Writers
whan23@korea.kr