Acting President Hwang Kyo-ahn spoke over the phone with his Uzbekistani counterpart, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, on Jan. 5. During the 30-minute telephone conversation, the acting president shared his thoughts on ways to further enhance ties between Korea and Uzbekistan.

“As the year 2017 marks the 25th anniversary of the establishment of Seoul-Tashkent diplomatic ties, hopefully both countries will continue to work closely across many areas, strengthening the strategic partnership,” said the acting president.

In response, President Mirziyoyev said, “The Uzbekistan government will surely continue to develop the bilateral relationship in a stable manner, based on the mutual trust that we’ve built together over the past years.”

Acting President Hwang also called on the Uzbekistani government to cooperate more on smoothly carrying out a string of ongoing large-scale projects between the two countries, such as methanol and gas-processing projects, like the successful Surgil Natural Gas Chemicals Project that was completed in Uzbekistan in May last year.

“We will fully cooperate on these projects,” the Uzbekistani leader stressed. “On top of that, we will actively work to complete the construction of the House of Korean Culture and Art in our country, too,” he said.

The House of Korean Culture and Art, to be complete in 2018, aims to showcase many aspects of Korean traditions, culture and art to the people of Uzbekistan, a country that is home to more than 180,000 ethnic Korean Uzbekistanis.

By Sohn JiAe
Korea.net Staff Writer
Photo: Prime Minister’s Office
jiae5853@korea.kr