Lee is set to hold a summit with his Uzbek counterpart Islam Karimov in Tashkent Monday. He arrived in the Uzbek capital Sunday on a three-day state visit.

"Uzbekistan and Korea have continuously developed their bilateral ties since forging a diplomatic relationship in 1992, and we now have an opportunity to further upgrade the relationship between the two countries," Lee said in a meeting with some 110 Korean residents here.

About 2,000 Korean businessmen, students and NGO workers are currently staying in this Central Asian nation, in addition to the nearly 180,000 Korean-Uzbek residents, according to Seoul’s presidential office Cheong Wa Dae.

"I am especially proud of Korean-Uzbek residents, who are praised and respected more than any other ethnic groups here," the president said.

Lee said Seoul’s new diplomatic campaign "New Asia Initiative" will help strengthen ties between Korean residents here and their motherland as it seeks to improve Seoul’s relations with other Asian nations.

"Your work that is acknowledged and respected here will provide great strength to our efforts to improve our relationship between Korea and Uzbekistan," he said.