Korea and Uzbekistan Strengthen Special Strategic Partnership and Sign 13 Cooperation Documents

President Lee Jaemyung and President Shavkat Mirziyoyev of Uzbekistan held a summit at the Blue House on the 14th and agreed to further develop the bilateral special strategic partnership in a more substantive way. The meeting took place as President Mirziyoyev paid a state visit to Korea on the occasion of the KoreaCentral Asia Summit. President Lee said that cooperation should be expanded in various fields, including transportation infrastructure, healthcare, response to the climate crisis, supply chains for critical minerals, artificial intelligence, digital technology, and the defense industry. He also noted that about 200,000 ethnic Koreans have built their lives in Uzbekistan and said that he would broaden peopletopeople and cultural exchanges. The two countries exchanged a total of 13 intergovernmental agreements and memorandums of understanding (MOUs) related to defense industry, tourism, agriculture, intellectual property, digital forest restoration, and manufacturing AI transformation, among others. The two leaders agreed that cooperation could also help peace on the Korean Peninsula and stability in the Eurasian region.