Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- On 24 November, a meeting was held at the Ministry of Investments and Foreign Trade with the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Korea, Yong Sam Chae, to discuss current measures to further expand trade, economic, investment, financial and technical cooperation between Uzbekistan and Korea.

During the meeting, the parties discussed measures for a balanced increase in bilateral trade indicators, bringing it up to US$5 billion in the coming years. For these purposes, the issue of enhancing cooperation on signing a Free Trade Agreement between the two countries, as well as obtaining permits for the supply of Uzbek food products to the Korean market, was agreed.

During the meeting, the successful activities of Korean companies in Uzbekistan, which are implementing joint investment projects worth US$14 billion in the fields of energy, light industry, mechanical engineering, geology, urban planning, and others issues were separately emphasized. The Korean side welcomed the initiative to introduce a new interaction mechanism - holding a monthly Uzbek-Korean commercial dialogue with the participation of Korean companies to solve pressing problems and accelerate the implementation of joint projects.

The progress of the implementation of projects under the program of the Official Development Assistance of the Government of Korea, including the creation of the Center for Retraining and Training of Personnel of Preschool Organizations, the Center for Chemical Technologies, as well as the expansion of the activities of the Uzbek-Korean Scientific and Technological Center for Rare Metals and the Korean-Uzbek Textile technopark.

The sides also discussed the issue of timely implementation of priority projects with the EDCF Fund of the Eximbank of Korea in the field of education, healthcare, pharmaceuticals, and electronics.

An agreement was reached on accelerating the process of approving the necessary documents and starting construction of a medical university in Tashkent, the 2nd stage of the Pharmaceutical cluster, as well as the Uzbek-Korean cluster for the production of electronics and semiconductors.

Following the talks, a commitment was expressed to providing comprehensive assistance in organizing mutual visits of government delegations, accelerating the implementation of joint projects and developing new agreements and initiatives.