On April 19, Shavkat Mirziyoyev and Moon Jae-in took part in the opening of the Uzbek-South Korean business forum, the presidential press service said.

The President of Uzbekistan noted that at the talks held at the Kuksaroy residence, special emphasis was placed on supporting relations between businessmen of both countries, developing medium and small businesses.

“Today's reforms and transformations implemented in Uzbekistan open up broad opportunities for the confident implementation of ambitious ideas and large projects. Last year, the number of joint ventures in our country increased by 3 times. Among them, there are 160 enterprises with the participation of Korean capital.  We are ready to continue to create the most favorable conditions for expanding the presence of Korean business in Uzbekistan,” Shavkat Mirziyoyev said.

Moon Jae-in noted that since ancient times Uzbekistan has been a center of trade, science and culture, today there are wide opportunities for joint business projects.  He expressed the readiness of South Korea to support investment projects in Uzbekistan and share best practices.

The forum, held at the NEC Uzexpocenter, was attended by heads of economic and financial institutions, leading companies of the two countries, including more than 350 representatives of 150 companies and organizations of South Korea.

At the business forum, important agreements were reached and agreements worth over $12 billion were signed. They cover such industries as energy, oil and gas, chemical, mining, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, transport and logistics, textile and light industry, infrastructure, ICT, digital medicine. Agreements on the transfer of the Angren free economic zone to the management of the Incheon free economic zone, establishment of the production of marketable drugs in the industrial zone “Bustonlik-pharm” are of particular importance.

The President of Uzbekistan called on representatives of the Korean business to actively use the new opportunities created in the economy of Uzbekistan.