1. First Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Kim Kyou-hyun, together with the delegations from five Central Asian countries, held the Seventh Cooperation Forum between the Republic of Korea and Central Asia -- the first since the launch of the new government in the ROK -- in Bishkek, Kyrgyz, on October 4. In addition, he met bilaterally with the Vice Foreign Ministers who led the aforementioned delegations at the Forum, putting into full gear bilateral and multilateral diplomacy with Central Asia aimed at shared prosperity and cooperation in order to boost cooperation with Eurasia, one of the policy tasks of the new ROK government.

° The ROK government delegation to the Forum included officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and the Korea Forest Service. Those from the five Central Asian countries consisted of officials from their ministries in charge of transportation, communications, energy, industry, environment and textile.

- The Forum was also attended by some 150 others, including 80 experts from agencies in the ROK and the Central Asian countries related to railroad, light industry and forestry as well as other relevant parties.

° For the first time, the heads of the ROK diplomatic missions in the five Central Asian countries as well as the Ambassadors to Kyrgyz from Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan joined the Cooperation Forum.

- Meanwhile, on the occasion of the Forum, a meeting of the heads of the ROK diplomatic missions in Central Asia took place chaired by Vice Minister Kim to discuss specific ways to strengthen cooperation with Eurasia.

* The ROK-Central Asia Cooperation Forum is the consultative mechanism between the ROK and the five countries in Central Asia convened regularly since 2007 and led by their Foreign Ministries. The aim of the Forum is to promote cooperation in economy, education, science and culture and to build a cooperative network among their governments, and businesses and academias. Relevant people from various sectors, including government agencies and the private sector such as businesses and the academia, take part in the Forum to seek out private-public joint cooperation projects.

2. The latest Forum was the second of its kind held in Central Asia following the one held in Uzbekistan in 2011 since the Forum’s establishment in 2007. The profuse hospitality of the government of the host Kyrgyz as well as the participation of its high-ranking officials helped enhance the standing of the Forum as an international forum concerning Central Asia.

° Although the Forum is a vice-ministerial meeting, Deputy Prime Minister Djoomart Otorbaev of Kyrgyz held a separate meeting with Vice Minister Kim and the other head delegates. At the meeting, the Deputy Prime Minister took note of the Cooperation Forum as a significant channel for bolstering the cooperation between the ROK and Central Asia and expressed his keen interest in ways to advance the Forum, including setting up its secretariat and inviting entrepreneurs to the Forum.

° At the Forum’s opening ceremony, Foreign Minister Abdyldaev of Kyrgyz delivered welcome remarks. Ministerial- and/or vice-ministerial-level officials from Kyrgyz government agencies handling affairs related to energy, industry, transportation, communications and forestry made presentations and/or took part in discussions at the sessions on textile, railroad and forestry.

° On October 3, the eve of the Forum, the Kyrgyz Foreign Ministry hosted a welcome reception featuring the country’s traditional performances and food for the delegations to the Forum to show its keen interest in the Forum.

° Leading local media outlets extensively reported on the Forum to express their high interest in the event.

3. In his keynote speech at the Forum as the ROK’s head delegate and the meeting with other head delegates, Vice Minister Kim brought attention to the fact that the new ROK government had decided to expand cooperation with Eurasia as one of its key policy priorities and has a keen interest in enhancing its relations with Central Asia. He relayed the willingness of the ROK government to actively carry out diplomacy with Central Asia for shared prosperity and cooperation. He called on the Central Asian countries to understand and actively support efforts to advance the ROK-Central Asia relations into win-win ties through mutually beneficial substantive cooperation.

° The new ROK government expressed its willingness to make vigorous efforts to expand cooperation with the Central Asian countries in a way that goes beyond its cooperation projects in energy, resources and infrastructure.

° The delegates from the Central Asian countries noted that their countries consider the ROK’s experiences of economic development and democratization as their model for national development, industrial diversification and democratic development. They voiced their high hope that the two sides will maintain their close cooperation so as to attain synergy effect from the willingness of the new ROK government to boost cooperation with Eurasia and the willingness of the Central Asian countries to step up substantive cooperation with the ROK.

4. The delegates noted with appreciation that the Cooperation Forums, through discussions on various sectors of cooperation, have served as an important platform for expanding the scope of the ROK-Central Asia cooperation. They shared the view that in order for the Forum to serve a more positive role, the projects discussed at the Forum should be materialized and an institutional mechanism should be set up as soon as possible to effectively manage the implementation process.

° In the first “special session on ways to advance the Forum,” the head delegates exchanged their candid views on the achievements of the Forum, its problems and development direction.

° The session covered various ways to advance the Forum, including seeking out substantive cooperation projects that are of interest and help to those involved; drawing up a joint roadmap; setting up a (cyber) secretariat; allowing business people to take part in the Forum; upgrading the Forum to a foreign-ministerial-level (or summit-level) meeting; and developing the Forum into an international mechanism in the mid to long term. The ROK Foreign Ministry will examine the feasibility of these specific ideas.

5. The Forum focused on textile, railroad and forestry, three sectors that could be of practical help to the five Central Asian countries. In the session on each of the sectors, government delegates and experts from think tanks, academia and other sectors engaged in in-depth discussions on concrete cooperation projects and ways to implement them.

° At the latest Forum, in particular, the ROK and the Central Asian countries concluded a memorandum of understanding calling for strengthening cooperation on forestry and agreed to conduct concrete cooperation projects in the field.

° The ROK-Central Asia MOU, the first of its kind concluded among the six countries, is expected to help the countries step up their cooperation through the Forum.

6. On the sidelines of the Forum, Vice Minister Kim met with Deputy Prime Minister Otorbaev and Foreign Minister Abdyldaev of Kyrgyz. In addition, he held bilateral meetings with his counterparts from the five Central Asian countries to discuss key bilateral issues.

7. Vice Minister Kim also presided over a meeting of the heads of the ROK diplomatic missions in the five Central Asian countries. In the meeting, he asked the mission heads to make active efforts to boost diplomacy with Central Asia in order to expand cooperation with Eurasia. The diplomats engaged in an in-depth discussion on country-specific and systematic ways to expand cooperation with Eurasia.

° Upon arrival in Bishkek, Vice Minister Kim attended the opening ceremony of the Korea Center at the National Library of Kyrgyz and made a tour of the Center stocked with some 10,000 volumes and 500 video materials. During this public diplomacy activity, he highlighted the importance of cultural exchanges in enhancing mutual understanding between the peoples of the two countries.

* The National Library of Kyrgyz presented Vice Minister Kim with an “Honorary Reader” badge, the second following the one conferred to respected former Kyrgyz President Rosa Otunbaeva.

8. The first ROK-Central Asia Cooperation Forum since the launch of the new government and the bilateral Vice Foreign Ministers’ meetings held on the sidelines of the Forum served as opportunities for the ROK government to put into full gear bilateral and multilateral diplomacy with Central Asia aimed at shared prosperity and cooperation in order to boost cooperation with Eurasia. On the bilateral level, the ROK and each of the five Central Asian countries reaffirmed their willingness to expand and enhance cooperative ties in a close and mutually beneficial manner. They also discussed the future direction of and ways to institutionalize the Forum, laying ground for advances in the ROK-Central Asia ties.

                    Spokesperson and Deputy Minister for Public Relations of MOFA

* unofficial translation