On November 11, the Kazakhstan Institute for Strategic Studies under the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, in collaboration with the Institute for Eurasian Policy Research (South Korea), held a seminar dedicated to the current state of Kazakhstan-Korea relations and plans for their further development.
The event was attended by Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Korea to the Republic of Kazakhstan, Cho Tae-ick, as well as representatives from analytical centers and institutions from South Korea.
In his opening remarks, Yerkin Tukumov, Director of the KazISS under the President of Kazakhstan, noted that Kazakhstan is particularly interested in South Korea’s experience, which has become a “benchmark” for successful economic and technological development. This allows South Korea to set global trends in human and innovation development, including in areas such as artificial intelligence, robotics, biotechnology, and “green” solutions.
“As a key task for the expert community in the near future, I propose conducting an in-depth study on the potential involvement of South Korea in the modernization of Kazakhstan’s economy, particularly in the development of its non-resource sector. This year, South Korea launched the ‘K-SILK ROAD’ initiative aimed at strengthening cooperation between Korea and Central Asia. We should examine this initiative in detail, involving industry specialists and experts. I also believe it would be useful to establish a partnership between the analytical centers of Kazakhstan and South Korea, which could serve as drivers for new mutually beneficial projects,” emphasized Yerkin Tukumov.
The director of KazISS also proposed, ahead of the upcoming “Central Asia – South Korea” summit scheduled for 2025, to organize an expert meeting to develop practical recommendations for the summit.
Ambassador Cho Tae-ick, in turn, emphasized that Kazakhstan, which accounts for more than 60% of Korea’s trade with Central Asia, is South Korea’s most significant trading partner in the region. South Korean investments in Kazakhstan over the past 32 years have exceeded 4.3 billion USD, and more than 370 Korean companies are operating in Kazakhstan.
“Since the launch of the Korea-Central Asia cooperation initiative ‘K-SILK ROAD’ about five months ago, this seminar provides us with a timely opportunity to discuss the further development of our bilateral relations in many promising areas,” the Ambassador of Korea suggested.
As a result of the seminar, the parties concluded that Kazakhstan-Korea cooperation has enormous potential for growth and strengthening of both economic and humanitarian ties, as well as for jointly addressing global challenges. The seminar can be seen as an important step toward achieving common goals and objectives.
