Seoul ready to strengthen co-op with Ashgabat

By  Trend

The friendly cooperation between the Republic of Korea (South Korea) and Turkmenistan will continue to expand, reassuringly said South Korean President Moon Jae-in in his letter to the Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov sent on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

Moon Jae-in noted that during his presidency, he will make every effort to develop a mutually beneficial partnership between South Korea and Turkmenistan.

“I wish you robust health and happiness, as well as further progress and prosperity for Turkmenistan,” added the South Korean President.

Seoul counts on partnership with Turkmenistan in such areas as the development of gas fields, creation of petrochemical and gas infrastructures and modernization of the industry.

At the current stage, South Korea’s LG and Hyundai, in cooperation with Japan’s TOYO, are building a gas-chemical complex for the production of polyethylene and polypropylene in the Kiyanli settlement (near the Turkmen coast of the Caspian Sea). The project’s total cost is more than $3.4 billion. The gas-chemical complex is planned to be commissioned in September 2018. The plant is designed to process five billion cubic meters of gas and produce 386,000 tons of polyethylene and 81,000 tons of polypropylene per year.

Ashgabat and Seoul pay especial attention to the issues of cooperation in the transportation sphere in the context of development of the transit and logistics infrastructure along the East-West and North-South lines, with access to European and Middle Eastern markets.

The project will include transit corridors accessing the regions of the Caspian Sea, Black Sea basin, and the Baltic Sea.

According to the Turkmeni data, the trade turnover of Turkmenistan and South Korea rose from $200 million to almost $2 billion in recent years.