President Lee Jae-myung held a summit with President Shavkat Mirziyoyev of Uzbekistan, who is paying a state visit to Korea to attend the first Korea–Central Asia Summit, on the 14th and discussed cooperation on supply chains and other issues. At the first multilateral summit with Central Asian countries, the government intends to lay the groundwork for diversifying global supply chains by linking Central Asia’s abundant critical minerals and energy resources with Korea’s exploration and processing technologies.

In the summit, President Lee and President Mirziyoyev agreed to combine the strengths of both countries and promote critical minerals, artificial intelligence (AI), and digital transformation as new areas of cooperation. In the critical minerals sector, they decided to strengthen supply chain cooperation across the entire cycle of exploration, development, and processing based on the “Korea–Uzbekistan Rare Metal Center,” and in the AI sector, they agreed to newly expand cooperation on AI-driven manufacturing innovation based on the “Manufacturing Artificial Intelligence Transformation (AX) Cooperation Memorandum of Understanding (MOU).” A state banquet was held after the summit.

Uzbekistan, which has the largest population in Central Asia (37 million people), has a long-standing cooperation base with Korea in transportation, infrastructure, and industry, and established a Special Strategic Partnership in 2019. On the occasion of the summit, the two countries signed 13 MOUs, including cooperation in the high-speed rail sector.

From the 15th to the 16th, President Lee will hold a series of meetings with the presidents of Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan. On the afternoon of the 16th, he will host a summit under the theme “Korea–Central Asia Cooperation Direction and Partnership for Strengthening Innovation, Prosperity, and Connectivity.” President Lee and the leaders of the five countries are also scheduled to hold a “Business Summit” with the participation of about 500 government and corporate officials. Through the “Korea–Central Asia Cooperation Forum,” launched in 2007, the government plans to upgrade the existing ministerial-level cooperation framework to the summit level and present a mid- to long-term cooperation vision through the “Seoul Declaration.”

The government believes that now is the time to upgrade cooperation with Central Asia to the summit level in order to diversify supply chains and markets and expand opportunities for Korean companies to enter the region, given Central Asia’s recent high economic growth, a population of 80 million, abundant energy and mineral resources, and rising demand in infrastructure and industrial sectors due to industrial advancement. As Central Asia’s transport and logistics networks, which connect Europe and Asia, attract attention, major countries such as the United States, China, and Japan have also held summits with the five Central Asian countries.

Prior to the Korea–Uzbekistan summit, President Lee met with Asian Development Bank (ADB) President Masatsugu Asakawa earlier in the day and agreed to expand cooperation in the fields of Central Asia’s critical mineral supply chains, artificial intelligence (AI), and energy infrastructure, including nuclear power, Blue House Chief Spokesperson Kang Yu-jung said. Ahead of the Korea–Central Asia Summit, this move is seen as an initiative to broaden the overseas expansion base of Korean companies by linking cooperation with Central Asia to the ADB’s financial and development capabilities.

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