President Lee Jae-myung held a summit with Turkmenistan President Serdar Berdimuhamedow on the 15th and agreed to sharply expand economic cooperation in energy, plants, transportation and logistics. The two countries signed 13 agreements and memorandums of understanding, including an investment protection accord, strengthening the institutional groundwork for Korean companies entering the Turkmen market.
At the summit held at the Blue House, Lee expressed particular gratitude for Turkmenistan’s support in helping Korean nationals evacuate safely during the war in Iran. “I am deeply grateful for the special consideration you extended so that our citizens and their families staying in Iran could evacuate safely through Turkmenistan, at a time when the Middle East situation was urgent last year and this year,” Lee said. “The warm hand you extended in a difficult moment properly showed the deep trust and friendship between our two countries.”
e laid out a plan to combine Turkmenistan’s abundant energy resources and geopolitical advantages with Korea’s industrial and technological competitiveness. “Korea will work together so that Turkmenistan’s abundant resources lead to high value-added industries and jobs, and so that the land connecting the Caspian Sea and Central Asia becomes a new gateway for logistics and trade,” Lee said.
Marking the summit, the two countries signed 13 agreements and memorandums of understanding covering investment promotion and protection, infrastructure, the chemical industry and plants, rail transport and water resource management. Through these, they plan to expand Korean corporate participation in major projects in oil, gas and chemicals as well as construction, transportation and logistics, and to strengthen cooperation on water resource projects such as the modernization of the Karakum Canal.