Press Briefing

Spokesperson and Deputy Minister for Public Affairs Soosuk Lim

October 26, 2023  14:30  KST

Good afternoon. Let me start today’s briefing.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Park Jin will attend the 16^th Korea-Central Asia Cooperation Forum in Turkmenistan on November 1.

The Forum will be co-hosted by the Korean and Turkmenian Ministries of Foreign Affairs and bring together the Foreign Ministers of the five Central Asian countries in their capacity as head delegates and about 200 people from diverse sectors of those countries.

The Forum will cover in depth ways for Korea-Central Asia cooperation in the areas of transportation and logistics, public healthcare and pharmaceuticals, climate change and environment, information and communications technology (ICT), education and science, and tourism.

On the sidelines of the Forum, Foreign Minister Park will have bilateral meetings with his counterparts from the Central Asian countries and exchange views with them on bilateral relations, substantive cooperation, regional affairs and Korea’s bid to host World Expo 2030 in Busan.

Foreign Minister Park will take the opportunity of the Forum to make the first official visit to Turkmenistan by a Korean Foreign Minister since the establishment of diplomatic relations in 1992.

Foreign Minister Park will pay a courtesy call on President of Turkmenistan Serdar Berdimuhamedov and have a meeting with Minister of Foreign Affairs Rashid Meredov to discuss ways to further cooperate in various sectors, including energy and plants, transportation infrastructure and public healthcare.

Foreign Minister Park’s visit to Turkmenistan is expected to serve as an opportunity to strengthen Korea-Turkmenistan and Korea-Central Asia relations and to further enhance mutually beneficial cooperation.

(A question-and-answer session followed.)