South Korean President Park Geun-hye paid an official visit to Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, and Turkmenistan with a mission to improve economic cooperation between the counties. In particular, South Korea's first female president seeks to find solutions to the infrastructure problems existing in a single Asian market, which has a potential to become an alternative to the European one. The result of the collaborative effort would be logistics network named 'Silk Road Express' that will connect South Korea and Europe through North Korea, China, Russia and neighboring countries.
In addition to common projects, Park Geun-hye signed some separate agreements. Thus, she negotiated gas and solar energy projects with President of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov. The terms of the agreement includes the admission of South Korean businesses to develop gas fields in the Bukhara region of Uzbekistan. The project is estimated at $4 billion.
Park Geun-hye and the president of Kazakhstan discussed the construction of a coal power plant in Balkhash worth $ 4.9 billion.
Kazakhstan media reported that amid the ongoing crisis and increased demand for energy and other mineral resources as well as the need to expand markets for its products, Seoul realizes the growing importance of the region. Central Asia - South Korea forum initiated by Korea in 2007 and its new Asian diplomacy concept are the clear illustration of it. The concept is aimed at obtaining mineral resources in exchange of up-to-date information technologies.
