Seoul, Tashkent agree to joint energy, economic development

By Byun Duk-kun
TASHKENT, May 11 (Yonhap) -- South Korea and Uzbekistan agreed Monday to launch
joint projects to develop Uzbekistan's oil and mineral fields while Seoul will
increase its economic assistance to the Central Asian country.
The agreement came in a ceremony attended by South Korean President Lee Myung-bak
and his Uzbek counterpart Islam Karimov, in which the countries signed a total of
16 deals that included a contract on the joint exploration and drilling of new
oil fields here.
Lee and Karimov agreed to boost their economic and energy cooperation in a summit
held earlier Monday.
The oil exploration deal, signed between South Korea's state-run Korean National
Oil Corp. and Uzbekistan's national energy firm Uzbekneftegaz, comes in addition
to an agreement signed in 2006, which made Seoul the main contractor for
explorations in Uzbekistan's Namangan-Tergachi and Chust-Pap regions.
The regions are believed to hold as much as 10.5 million tons of gas and 9.2
million tons of oil, according to South Korean officials.
"This will be a very important opportunity for the development of the
relationship between the two countries, as well as the development of
Uzbekistan," the South Korean president earlier said of his summit with Karimov.
Under a separate deal, also signed at Monday's ceremony, Seoul agreed to provide
US$17.6 million to Tashkent from its Economic Development Cooperation Fund to
help build a new sewage system in Uzbekistan's southwestern city of Navoiy.
Uzbekistan's Asaka Bank, in a memorandum of understanding with the Export-Import
Bank of Korea, agreed to create a $200-million credit line for South Korean
businesses working to modernize Navoiy's international airport and build a
surrounding new city.
Tashkent also agreed to a visa waiver for South Korean diplomats.
bdk@yna.co.kr
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