14 Jun 2024 16:20

Uzbekistan plans to set up regional hub with S. Korea's assistance

TASHKENT. June 14 (Interfax) - Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev has initiated the expansion of innovative cooperation and proposed adopting a program to establish a regional high-tech hub during talks with his South Korean counterpart Yoon Suk-yeol.

"The parties highlighted the importance of forming a new high-tech agenda of Uzbek-South Korean special strategic partnership for the next three years. The head of our state put forward an initiative to declare this period a 'new time of high-tech and innovative cooperation between the two countries,'" the Uzbek presidential press service said on Friday.

The governments have been instructed to draw up a strategic program to set up a regional high-tech hub in Uzbekistan. "A number of priority areas of interaction have been presented as anchor areas of the strategy," it said.

Partnership in the area of critical mineral resources and creating a scientific and production cluster of semiconductor products in Uzbekistan are envisioned. The parties intend to deepen cooperation in mechanical engineering.

Mirziyoyev noted that South Korea is one of Uzbekistan's major trade and investment partners. A total of 726 Uzbek-South Korean joint ventures are operating in the country. South Korean investment in Uzbekistan's economy has topped $7.5 billion.