Office launched for Korea-Central Asia cooperation

Republic of Korea and five Central Asian countries on July 10, 2017  launched an office in Seoul to facilitate diplomatic, business and people-to-people cooperation through high-level dialogue, exchanges of working-level public officials and cultural festivals.

The Korea-Central Asia Cooperation Forum Secretariat is the first joint permanent body between the countries and represents progress they have made since the forum was incepted 10 years ago as a high-level consultative mechanism.

Republic of Korea and the five countries - Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan - agreed on the plan during last year’s forum. The secretariat will be headed by Kim Gwang-keun and will operate under the Korea Foundation, a state-run public diplomacy agency.

This year marks the 25th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Korea and five Central Asian countries.