Following talks in Seoul, a ceremony was held to exchange bilateral documents in the presence of Shavkat Mirziyoyev and South Korean President Lee Jae-myung. The press service of the Uzbek president reported this. The package of documents includes treaties and agreements aimed at expanding trade, economic, investment, and humanitarian partnership.
According to South Korea’s Yonhap agency, a total of 13 interagency agreements and memorandums were signed. They cover cooperation in transport, aviation, agriculture, tourism, artificial intelligence, technical assistance, higher, school, and preschool education, regulation of medical products, ecology, climate change mitigation, intellectual property protection, archival affairs, and other areas.
In particular, the Export-Import Bank of Korea and the Ministry of Investments, Industry, and Trade of Uzbekistan signed a memorandum to create a mechanism for identifying strategic projects. According to the agency, the document provides for identifying promising, mutually beneficial projects in six strategic sectors of Uzbekistan and reviewing opportunities for their project and commercial financing. These sectors include critical minerals, data centers, smart cities, a special industrial zone for Korean companies, pharmaceuticals and biotechnologies, as well as the food, beauty, and media content industries.
Earlier, the press service of the South Korean president stated that the two countries intend to strengthen cooperation in critical minerals on the basis of the Korea-Uzbekistan Rare Metals Center across the entire supply chain, from geological exploration and extraction to processing. A memorandum was also signed on the supply of eight high-speed trains to Uzbekistan and the establishment of a national genomics center and Biome Center biobank. This initiative is expected to further expand ties in transport and medical infrastructure. In the future, the scope of these projects may be expanded, which, as Yonhap notes, “creates a foundation for Korean companies to enter the Uzbek market.”
Recall that in June, Transport Minister Ilkhom Makhkamov announced that the modernization of the Tashkent–Andijan and Tashkent–Termez railway lines and the operation of 8 Hyundai Rotem high-speed electric trains on these routes were under consideration. As for the creation of a biobank, the Center for Advanced Technologies under the Ministry of Higher Education, Science, and Innovation of Uzbekistan announced such plans in October 2025. In particular, it is planned to create a genetic map of the population and a national biobank, which is necessary for the development of personalized medicine, new drugs and diagnostic tests, as well as improving the accuracy of neonatal and prenatal screening programs.
Another memorandum between Uzbekistan and South Korea provides for strengthening cooperation in the field of intellectual property protection at the border, in particular preventing the entry of counterfeit products of famous brands. The parties also signed a memorandum on cooperation in preschool and general education. The document provides for expanding the exchange of experience in preschool, primary, and secondary education. In particular, it is planned to include the Korean language in the list of official subject Olympiads organized by the Uzbek government. This is expected to further enhance the status of the Korean language in the country.
The memorandum on cooperation in digital reforestation and combating climate change includes jointly addressing transboundary environmental problems of Central Asia, including the desertification of the Aral Sea region and disputes over water resources, as well as taking measures against the climate crisis. In addition, memorandums were signed on cooperation in tourism to intensify mutual visits and ties between citizens, in agriculture providing for the transfer of Korean agro-technologies, as well as on the introduction of artificial intelligence in industry and coordination of medical products. A document on expanding cooperation in the defense industry and an agreement on the transfer of prisoners were also signed.
Source: www.gazeta.uz