Uzbek Ambassador to Korea Vitali Fen contributed the following article to The Korea Times on the occasion of President Islam Karimov's visit to Korea from Feb. 10 to 12. 

Under the leadership of President Islam Karimov, Uzbekistan has made great achievements in the past few years since the country gained its independence in 1991.

On Jan. 29, the Cabinet ministers held a session to resume the results of the socioeconomic development of the country in 2009 and to put forward its main economic priorities for the current year.

President Karimov delivered a speech in the session. In particular, he said thanks to correct development and modernization strategies and efforts for the 2009-2012 Anti-Crisis Program, the country managed not only to withstand the challenges of the global crisis, but ensured stable economic and social growth.

Macroeconomic stability and stable economic growth rates have proved Uzbekistan's economy is on the right track, the President noted, and acknowledged it as the Uzbek model of economic reforms.

In 2009, the GDP increased by 8.1 percent, industrial production by 9 percent, agricultural production by 5.7 percent, retail trade turnover by 16.6 percent and services by 12.9 percent.

The state budget has been implemented with a surplus without cuts in budget spending, while the inflation level did not exceed the forecast and comprised 7.4 percent, the head of state said.

The measures to strengthen banking and financial sectors have allowed the cumulative capital of the banks to double in the past two years, while the share of bank credits used for investment purposes has reached 70 percent.

Measures have been implemented to ensure the financial stability of the enterprises, mainly through modernization of production, reduction of products' cost price, expansion of cooperative ties and stimulating internal demand.

The volume of localized production increased by 2.3 times last year, with the launch of more than 120 new products.

Thanks to the support and stimulation of the local exporting enterprises despite unfavorable conjuncture in the world markets in 2009, export volumes increased by 2.4 percent.

Uzbekistan has pursued structural transformation and diversification of the economy, modernization and technical renewal of production, and attracting investment, mainly from abroad.

New production capacities were launched last year in the automobile building, construction materials, chemical, food, light, pharmaceutical and other industries.

Car and railway transport systems and communications have also seen extensive development.

The anti-crisis measures taken in 2009 have resulted in creating more than 940,000 new workplaces, including over 500,000 in the rural areas.

President Karimov also drew attention to the existing problems and touched upon the most important tasks in the country's social and economic development in 2010.

The President entrusted the heads of ministries, economic management bodies, as well as local authorities, to continue and deepen reforms in the economy, to implement strategic investment projects and to strengthen the banking and financial systems.

Karimov also highlighted importance of the implementation of all measures included in the 2010 State Program "Year of harmoniously developed generation."

In the last decade, Korea became a key political and economic partner for Uzbekistan among Asian countries. Strong supporter of democratic and market reforms have been undertaken in Uzbekistan with the leadership of the president.

Since his inauguration in 2008, Korean President Lee Myung-bak and Karimov have established a warm personal friendship, which has become an important factor in comprehensive cooperation between the two countries.

President Lee made an official visit to Uzbekistan in 2009 between May 10 and 12.

Karimov and Lee held a fruitful summit at Ok Saroy presidential residence in Tashkent, during which they reconfirmed a bilateral strategic partnership, signed in 2006.

They discussed the current state and prospects of the bilateral relations, the outstanding regional and international issues of mutual interest, and evaluated the outcome of two-way cooperation in the exploitation of petroleum and natural gas, and mineral resources.

While in Uzbekistan, Lee proposed a joint project, the "New Silk Road," with Uzbekistan.

By carrying out a joint project backed by Korea's advanced IT and Uzbekistan's vast logistics and railway networks, Karimov and Lee agreed to construct a win-win cooperation partnership in the years to come.

At the summit, Tashkent and Seoul signed a total of 37 deals regarding joint exploration projects and drilling of new oil fields in Uzbekistan.

Korea is interested in elaborating and implementing new projects in areas like education, car making, the textile industry, information technology, infrastructure, construction, and oil and gas sectors in Uzbekistan.

Among the new projects is a joint development of a Free Industrial-Economic Zone in the Navoi region of Uzbekistan, which has developed industrial structure, skilled manpower and rich raw material resources.

According to figures, the volume of trade between the two countries in 2008 jumped 63 percent and accounted for $1.3 billion.

Because of the global economic crisis bilateral trade has slightly decreased and marked nearly $1.2 billion in 2009.

Uzbekistan and South Korea also consistently extend cooperation in the framework of international organizations.

The Korean government has highly valued Uzbekistan's support of Ban Ki-moon for the post at the United Nations.

Uzbekistan also supports South Korea's policy toward strengthening peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and the joint development of Northeastern Asia.

The Republic of Korea supports Uzbekistan's bid to join the World Trade Organization (WTO). Recently, Uzbekistan extended its support to Korea to host the United Nations Climate Change Conference in 2012.

Tashkent and Seoul pay special attention to the joint struggle against international terrorism, extremism and the drug trade.

The continuity of the Uzbek-South Korean summits witnesses the sincerity of relations between the two countries and heads of states based on mutual trust and respect.

The Uzbek-Korean summit in Tashkent has served as another confirmation of the fact that the relations between the two states are buttressed with friendship at the highest level.

Uzbekistan and South Korea have become the strategic partners.

Now they are continuing to extend cooperation on this very basis.

During the forthcoming summit, Karimov and Lee will exchange views on the current situation and prospects of bilateral strategic partnership, the regional and international issues of mutual interest, and assess the outcome of two-way cooperation in the sphere of energy and mineral resources.

Thus, the visit of President Karimov will serve for the further enhancement of friendly and cooperative relations between our two countries.

The Korea Times,
February 10, 2010