Full text of op-ed by Foreign Minister Cho Hyun marking 1st S. Korea-Central Asia Summit
SEOUL, Sept. 15 (Yonhap) -- The following is the full text of an op-ed written b...
The First Korea-Central Asia Summit 2026 is set to take place on September 16 in Seoul, marking a significant milestone in the relationship between the Republic of Korea and the five Central Asian countries - Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan. This historic event will bring together the leaders of these nations to discuss the future direction of their cooperation. The theme for the summit is "Walking Together Toward the Future: A Partnership for Trust and Prosperity".
The Korea-Central Asia Cooperation Framework, established in 1992, has been the foundation of the strong trust and cooperation between the Republic of Korea and Central Asian countries over the past three decades. This partnership was further solidified in 2007 when the Republic of Korea launched the Korea-Central Asia Cooperation Forum, which provided an institutional basis for the partnership.
The forum was elevated to the ministerial level in 2019, and since then, the two sides have been working on expanding cooperation in various fields such as economy, infrastructure, and people-to-people exchanges.
In recent years, the trade volume between the Republic of Korea and Central Asia has reached a new high of over $10 billion. The scope of trade has evolved from purely customer-focused items to supply chain and high technology industries, indicating a new chapter in the relations between the two sides. The Republic of Korea, with its extensive manufacturing industry and technological capabilities, and Central Asian countries, with their abundant resources and growing markets, are poised to become optimum partners in meeting each other's needs, especially in the fields of strategic resources and critical minerals.
As the world faces a rapidly changing security environment, the combination of Central Asia's resources and the Republic of Korea's high-tech manufacturing and processing capabilities in the field of strategic resources and critical minerals is expected to help establish stable supply chains and shape a new industrial ecosystem.
The Korea-Central Asia Summit will focus on further strengthening cooperation in fields such as AI and green technology, as well as responding to climate change. In doing so, the two sides aim to generate new opportunities for shared growth together.
Written by urgent.news from Yonhap News's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
