President Moon Jae-in (left) on Dec. 17 inspects an honor guard with visiting Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev in an official welcoming ceremony at Cheong Wa Dae. (Yonhap News)

By Yoon Sojung

Korea and Uzbekistan have agreed to bolster bilateral cooperation in the diversification of rare metal supply chains and in sectors like energy, infrastructure, and medical and health care.

President Moon Jae-in on Dec. 17 and visiting Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev agreed to these measures at their summit hosted by Cheong Wa Dae, according to Korea's Yonhap News.

President Mirziyoyev was invited to visit Korea by President Moon to mark the 30th anniversary of bilateral relations next year. Their meeting was the fourth between the two leaders.  

Both sides agreed to expand cooperation in energy, infrastructure, and information and communications technology (ICT) and strive to quickly conclude a bilateral trade agreement.

On cooperation in the supply of rare earth metals, both countries decided to diversify the supply chain network for such metals by using as a hub the Korean-Uzbek rare metal center that opened in April 2019 in Chirchik, a city northwest of the Uzbek capital of Tashkent. The two countries will also widen cooperation in the development of renewable energy and improvement of energy efficiency.

To boost cooperation in jointly responding to COVID-19 and medical and health care, both nations will speed up ongoing projects such as construction of a general hospital and national cancer center in Tashkent. Brisk projects in bilateral medical collaboration include Korea's deployment of medical personnel to the Central Asian country.

On cooperation in the Korean New Deal, President Moon said, "Along with our response to climate change, we will firmly join hands in such future growth areas as smart cities and farms, ICT and electric vehicles."

"I hope that we jointly usher in another 30 years of shared prosperity."

President Mirziyoyev also reaffirmed his support for Seoul's efforts toward peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and President Moon's proposal to formally end the Korean War. The Uzbek leader said such support remained "unchanged" and that he welcomed a quick end-of-war declaration.

This summit also led to the adoption of a joint statement for boosting bilateral relations. The statement also expressed the two countries' intent to conclude a trade accord, Korean support for Uzbekistan's bid to join the World Trade Organization, and cooperation in specific sectors like industry, science, construction, infrastructure, and medical and health care.

After the talks, both governments signed seven agreements including memorandums of understanding on building an energy channel and developing smart cities and an accord on public health cooperation for disease prevention and response.

arete@korea.kr