1. On November 6, Deputy Minister for Political Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Yoon Soon-gu met bilaterally with Executive Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan Yermek KOSHERBAYEV and Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Uzbekistan Dilshod AKHATOV, who were on a visit to the Republic of Korea for the eleventh Korea-Central Asia Cooperation Forum. In the bilateral meetings, the two sides extensively exchanged views on matters of mutual interest, including the bilateral relations, the situation on the Korean Peninsula, and substantive cooperation.

2. In his meeting with Executive Secretary of Kazakhstan Kosherbayev, Deputy Minister Yoon took note of the fact that the two countries have seen their cooperation move forward in a mutually beneficial way since forging strategic partnership in 2009.

° The Deputy Minister asked the Kazakh government to pay attention to and support plant projects in which Korean enterprises are taking part or seeking to take part; and voiced hope for further advances in bilateral economic cooperative ties.

° The Deputy Minister, welcoming Korean companies having been selected in early 2018 as participants in the Big Almaty Ring Road construction project and concluded a contract with Almaty Metro for supply of subway trains, asked the Kazakh government to pay attention to and support these projects in order for them to be completed successfully and become exemplary cases of infrastructure cooperation between the two countries.

° The two sides agreed to work together to expand bilateral cooperation, including by building a future-oriented and mutually beneficial economic cooperative ties; stepping up cooperation on energy and infrastructure; and seeking out and conducting cooperation projects in the sectors of transportation and logistics.

° Executive Secretary Kosherbayev appreciated the growing high-level exchanges between the two countries and robust operations of Korean companies in Kazakhstan.

3. In his meeting with Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Uzbekistan Akhatov that followed, Deputy Minister Yoon noted that the ROK and Uzbekistan, as strategic partners, have been seeing their cooperation grow in a mutually beneficial way since the establishment of diplomatic relations in 1992.

° Deputy Minister Yoon conveyed the ROK’s hope to be Uzbekistan’s partner in the process of the latter's reform efforts across the board, including political and social affairs and economy; and, in particular, took note of the active bilateral cooperation of late to improve the quality of life of the two countries’ people in such areas as public administration, health and medical care, and education.

° Deputy Minister Akhatov, taking note of President Shavkat Mirziyoyev’s state visit to the ROK in November 2017 as a historic one that paved the way for comprehensive cooperation between the two countries, suggested maintaining and enhancing cooperative ties in a future-oriented way.

4. In the bilateral meetings with his Kazakh and Uzbek counterparts, Deputy Minister Yoon explained the ROK government’s efforts to achieve complete denuclearization and establish permanent peace on the Korean Peninsula, asking the Central Asian countries to remain supportive in that regard.

° The Executive Secretary of Kazakhstan and the Deputy Minister of Uzbekistan, noting that inter-Korean dialogue was helping produce meaningful progress toward peace on the Korean Peninsula, reaffirmed support for the ROK government’s efforts for peace and prosperity on the Korean Peninsula.

5. The ROK-Kazakhstan and ROK-Uzbekistan bilateral vice ministerial meetings, held on the occasion of the 11th Korea-Central Asia Cooperation Forum, are seen to have served as an opportunity to expand bilateral cooperation across the board, including political affairs, economy and culture, with Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, the ROK government’s major cooperative partners for its New Northern Policy and key trade partners in Central Asia.

* unofficial translation