Expansion of Economic Territory
President Park Geun-hye is paying a state visit to Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, and Turkmenistan for six days from June 16. She departed from the Seoul Airport yesterday morning and arrived in Tashkent several hours later.
The purpose of the visit to the three Central Asian countries is the promotion of the Eurasia Initiative and assistance in the business of Korean companies there capitalizing on resource diplomacy. The Eurasia Initiative, which is a part of the international cooperation scheme of the Korean government, is to expand Korea’s economic territory for the future and set the foundation of peace in the Korean peninsula by combining the Eurasian continent into one economic bloc.
Her first destination is Uzbekistan, where she is scheduled to meet with President Islam Karimov today, June 17. On June 19 and 20, she meets with Kazakhstani President Nursultan Nazarbayev and Turkmenistan President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow, respectively.
During the summit talks, the parties are going to check the progress of major bilateral cooperation projects such as the Surgil Gas Project in Uzbekistan and the Balkhash Coal-fired Power Plant Construction Plant in Kazakhstan, and discuss how to better support Korean companies in these regions.