Kassym-Jomart Tokayev held summit talks with President of Republic of Korea

NUR-SULTAN, August 17 (KAZINFORM) – Head of State Kassym-Jomart Tokayev held talks with his South Korean counterpart President Moon Jae-in during his state visit to Seoul, Kazinform has learnt from the Akorda press service. During the summit talks, the sides discussed in detail the prospects of further development of Kazakh-Korean strategic partnership. Utmost attention was paid to strengthening of trade, economic, investment, cultural and humanitarian ties. The heads of state also gave consideration to the most pressing issues of global and regional agenda as well as interaction within the framework of international structures. Kassym-Jomart Tokayev expressed gratitude to President Moon Jae-in for warm welcome. The President of Kazakhstan also warmly recollected the meeting with the South Korean leader in Nur-Sultan in 2019 which gave a serious impulse to the development of bilateral relations. Kassym-Jomart Tokayev went on to stress that South Korea is one of the most important strategic partners for Kazakhstan in Asia. He revealed that to date the Republic of Korean had invested over $6 billion into Kazakhstan’s economy. President Tokayev emphasized that the work on attraction of investment should be continued. He added that there are 550 companies with the participation of Korean capital functioning in Kazakhstan, namely Samsung, Hyundai, Lotte, Posco and more. The Head of State thanked the Korean side for its assistance in the fight against the coronavirus infection and informed his South Korean counterpart of Kazakhstan’s homegrown QazVac vaccine. Speaking of prospects of interstate cooperation, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev expressed interest in studying South Korea’s experience in the development of high technologies as well as public health sector. President Moon Jae-in, in turn, greeted Kassym-Jomart Tokayev pointing out that he is a special guest since it is the first high-level meeting with a foreign leader since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic. The South Korean leader also underlined that the meeting is held on the year of 30th anniversary of Kazakhstan's Independence and the 76th anniversary of Korea’s Independence. Moon Jae-in also expressed gratitude to President Tokayev and the people of Kazakhstan for contributing to repatriation of the remains of historic Korean independence fighter Hong Beom-do and other prominent Koreans. The President of the Republic of Korea highly praised Kazakhstan’s role in regional and international processes as well as special ties that unite two nations. After the summit talks, the heads of state attended the signing ceremony of the memorandums of understanding between several ministries, government and trade bodies of the Republic of Kazakhstan and the Republic of Korea.