Development of trade and economic cooperation between Uzbekistan and Korea

From 18 to 21 October this year, a working group of the Ministry of Investment and Foreign Trade visited the Republic of Korea, where several meetings and negotiations with representatives of Korean ministries and departments, management of companies were held. Prospects of further strengthening of bilateral trade-economic and investment cooperation have been discussed during the meetings. A number of system agreements were signed.

In particular, working meetings with representatives of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy have been held to discuss prospects of trade-economic and investment cooperation in Uzbekistan and e-commerce development. The turnover has doubled in the past five years, reaching 1.8 billion dollars in 2021 and 1.6 billion dollars between January and August 2022.

Some 100 investment projects worth over $14 billion are currently underway in Uzbekistan in cooperation with Korean companies. In order to address pressing issues and accelerate implementation of joint projects, the sides have agreed to introduce a new mechanism of interaction based on monthly Uzbek-Korean virtual commercial dialogue.

Prospects of developing electronic trade site in Uzbekistan TradeUZ.com have been discussed during the talks with executives of Korean companies KTNet and Korea Institute of Technology Development within the "4th phase of establishing National Electronic Commerce Platform in Uzbekistan" project.

They also confirmed readiness to take necessary measures together with Korea Eximbank and Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) for timely implementation of 8 projects worth 50.6 million USD, as well as projects within financial and technical cooperation program for 2022-2024.

The meetings resulted in a clear programme of practical measures to strengthen cooperation with Korean partners in order to fully implement the discussed projects and initiatives.