First Korea-Central Asia summit wraps up, expanding Seoul's diplomatic reach into Eurasia

The first Korea-Central Asia Summit concluded successfully Wednesday, bringing together President Lee Jae Myung and the leaders of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan to discuss expanded cooperation spanning critical mineral supply chains, trade and investment, and infrastructure.

The second Korea-Central Asia Summit will be held in Kazakhstan in 2028.

Cheong Wa Dae said the summit laid the groundwork for discussing regional cooperation between Korea and Central Asia at the leadership level.

It said the gathering was expected to serve as a turning point for deepening cooperation across a broad range of areas — including trade, investment, industry, education and culture — built on the mutual trust accumulated through decades of exchanges, with the goal of achieving shared prosperity.

In his opening remarks, Lee said the world is entering "a time of great transformation, where the economy and security are closely intertwined — from supply chains and energy to markets and technology," adding that "the Silk Road spirit of Central Asia, which once connected the people, technology and cultures of East and West, is needed now more than ever."

"We must now prepare the next 30 years together, building on the foundation of cooperation we have built over the past three decades," Lee said. "The respective strengths of Korea and Central Asia will offer boundless opportunities to solve each other's challenges together."

The leaders of Korea and the five Central Asian nations adopted the Seoul Declaration, committing to institutionalize Korea-Central Asia cooperation and establish a strategic framework for collaboration.

Specifically, they agreed to pursue supply chain cooperation combining Central Asia's abundant natural resources with Korea's advanced technology, and to explore the creation of joint value-added production networks encompassing critical mineral processing, industrial localization, science and technology cooperation, and human resource development.

In the energy sector, the leaders agreed to broaden cooperation to cover oil and gas, petrochemicals, advanced natural gas processing, hydropower, renewable energy, energy infrastructure modernization and clean energy technology.

The Seoul Declaration also reaffirmed the commitment to the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and the establishment of lasting peace.

The five Central Asian leaders expressed support for South Korea's efforts to resume inter-Korean dialogue through proactive tension reduction and confidence-building measures, with the goal of achieving peaceful coexistence and shared prosperity on the Korean Peninsula through expanded inter-Korean exchanges, normalization of relations and phased denuclearization.

Ahead of the summit, Lee held a series of bilateral talks with each of the five leaders over three days beginning Monday, producing a range of cooperative outcomes with each country.

A total of 74 agreements and MOUs were signed across various sectors — 13 with Uzbekistan, 13 with Kazakhstan, 13 with Turkmenistan, 17 with Tajikistan and 18 with Kyrgyzstan.

In a Facebook post after the summit, Lee said the two sides had signed an "MOU on industrial and supply chain cooperation" to deliver concrete results, and had established a new industrial ministers' consultative body to implement it. "We will connect railways, logistics and energy infrastructure, and work together to resolve the on-the-ground challenges companies face, including customs and intellectual property issues," he said.

Lee added that Korea and Central Asia had agreed to pursue both bilateral cooperation and the "C5+1" framework going forward. "We will deepen cooperation with each country individually, but when faced with difficult challenges that require collective action, all six nations will join forces," he said.