Seoul, Sep 16 (IANS) South Korean President Lee Jae Myung and President Emomali Rahmon of Tajikistan agreed on Wednesday to establish a comprehensive partnership between their countries, with the South Korean leader expressing hope the new partnership will help expand the countries’ cooperation in various areas, including critical minerals.
The agreement to upgrade the countries’ relationship came in a bilateral summit at Cheong Wa Dae, ahead of the inaugural South Korea-Central Asia Summit to be held later Wednesday that will also be attended by the heads of state of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Kyrgyzstan.
“Since establishing diplomatic relations in 1992, South Korea and Tajikistan have continuously developed friendly cooperation,” Lee said at the opening of his meeting with the Tajikistani president. “I find it very meaningful that the two countries established a comprehensive partnership on the occasion of the president’s visit.”
Lee highlighted Tajikistan’s rich mineral resources and high economic growth potential, pledging that South Korea will “proactively cooperate for Tajikistan’s economic development as a trustworthy partner,” Yonhap News Agency reported.
“I hope that the two countries will further expand mutually beneficial cooperation in sectors including railways, critical minerals and digital (technology),” the South Korean president added.
Rahmon said that one of his country’s policy priorities is strengthening cooperation with South Korea, stressing the long history of solidarity and friendship between the two countries.
He also stressed the need to devise legal and institutional foundations to elevate bilateral cooperation to match the level of the new partnership, and said that the latest dialogue will serve as an important opportunity to ramp up diplomacy and political trust between the countries.
Rahmon later met with South Korean Prime Minister Han Seong-sook and discussed ways to bolster all-round cooperation.
“The development of relations with the Republic of Korea is one of Tajikistan’s important foreign policies,” Rahmon said through an interpreter at the start of the meeting.
Referring to a series of agreements signed on the sidelines of the summit between the two countries, Rahmon said that a legal framework has been set up for the development of bilateral relations. A total of 17 agreements were signed, most of them on enhancing economic cooperation.
“The new pacts signed today will contribute to further strengthening the economic partnership that is beneficial to each other,” Rahmon said. “I am satisfied with the overall growth of relations between the two countries.”
–IANS
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