ID :
202598
Sun, 08/21/2011 - 17:23
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/202598
The shortlink copeid
Lee arrives in Mongolia as part of three-nation trip to Central Asia
(ATTN: UPDATES with Lee's arrival; CHANGES headline, dateline)
By Chang Jae-soon
ULAN BATOR, Aug. 21 (Yonhap) -- South Korean President Lee Myung-bak arrived in Mongolia on Sunday as part of a three-nation trip to Central Asia, a region that is rich in resources and business opportunities and carries strategic significance as a bridge between Asia and Europe.
Lee is scheduled to hold summit talks with Mongolian President Tsakhia Elbegdorj on Monday to discuss upgrading bilateral relations and promoting substantive cooperation in resources, infrastructure, health care, agriculture, development cooperation and people-to-people exchanges.
The two sides plan to issue a joint statement elevating their relations to a "comprehensive partnership" in a symbolic commitment to bolster the ties in all areas. The two sides also plan to adopt a mid-term action plan providing guidelines for bilateral cooperation, officials said.
They also plan to sign an energy and resources cooperation accord and study ways to expand cooperation in modernizing Mongolia's public health and medical system, improving the environment and promoting agricultural development in eastern Mongolia, officials said.
The three-day visit also includes meetings with Prime Minister Sukhbaatar Batbold and other leading Mongolian figures, a luncheon with Korean and Mongolian business leaders, and a meeting with South Korean residents in the country, officials said.
On Tuesday, Lee will head to Uzbekistan for talks with President Islam Karimov.
The two sides plan to sign a US$4 billion contract to develop a gas field and build a related plant. Another deal is in the works to export a Korean information technology system to modernize Uzbekistan's stock market. A series of cooperation accords are also planned in health care, medicine, IT, textiles and other areas, officials said.
The trip to Tashkent also includes a meeting of the Korean-Uzbek Economic Cooperation Council.
In the last leg of the Central Asian tour, Lee will arrive in Kazakhstan on Wednesday for talks with President Nursultan Nazarbayev on the "direction the bilateral strategic partnership should take" and to strengthen cooperation in trade, investment, energy, resources and other fields.
Kazakhstan has the world's ninth-largest land in the world, roughly the size of Western Europe, and boasts of rich oil, gas, zinc, tungsten and other mineral resources.
Lee and Nazarbayev have held talks almost every year and developed a personal friendship, the presidential secretary said, adding that the upcoming visit will further strengthen cooperation between the two countries and personal ties between their leaders.
During Lee's visit, two $4 billion contracts are planned between the two sides for the construction of a petrochemical plant and a thermal power plant in the Central Asian nation. The sides also plan to sign a series of cooperation agreements in health care, medicine, environment, scientific research and other sectors.
Lee also plans to attend a Korea-Kazakhstan business forum.
By Chang Jae-soon
ULAN BATOR, Aug. 21 (Yonhap) -- South Korean President Lee Myung-bak arrived in Mongolia on Sunday as part of a three-nation trip to Central Asia, a region that is rich in resources and business opportunities and carries strategic significance as a bridge between Asia and Europe.
Lee is scheduled to hold summit talks with Mongolian President Tsakhia Elbegdorj on Monday to discuss upgrading bilateral relations and promoting substantive cooperation in resources, infrastructure, health care, agriculture, development cooperation and people-to-people exchanges.
The two sides plan to issue a joint statement elevating their relations to a "comprehensive partnership" in a symbolic commitment to bolster the ties in all areas. The two sides also plan to adopt a mid-term action plan providing guidelines for bilateral cooperation, officials said.
They also plan to sign an energy and resources cooperation accord and study ways to expand cooperation in modernizing Mongolia's public health and medical system, improving the environment and promoting agricultural development in eastern Mongolia, officials said.
The three-day visit also includes meetings with Prime Minister Sukhbaatar Batbold and other leading Mongolian figures, a luncheon with Korean and Mongolian business leaders, and a meeting with South Korean residents in the country, officials said.
On Tuesday, Lee will head to Uzbekistan for talks with President Islam Karimov.
The two sides plan to sign a US$4 billion contract to develop a gas field and build a related plant. Another deal is in the works to export a Korean information technology system to modernize Uzbekistan's stock market. A series of cooperation accords are also planned in health care, medicine, IT, textiles and other areas, officials said.
The trip to Tashkent also includes a meeting of the Korean-Uzbek Economic Cooperation Council.
In the last leg of the Central Asian tour, Lee will arrive in Kazakhstan on Wednesday for talks with President Nursultan Nazarbayev on the "direction the bilateral strategic partnership should take" and to strengthen cooperation in trade, investment, energy, resources and other fields.
Kazakhstan has the world's ninth-largest land in the world, roughly the size of Western Europe, and boasts of rich oil, gas, zinc, tungsten and other mineral resources.
Lee and Nazarbayev have held talks almost every year and developed a personal friendship, the presidential secretary said, adding that the upcoming visit will further strengthen cooperation between the two countries and personal ties between their leaders.
During Lee's visit, two $4 billion contracts are planned between the two sides for the construction of a petrochemical plant and a thermal power plant in the Central Asian nation. The sides also plan to sign a series of cooperation agreements in health care, medicine, environment, scientific research and other sectors.
Lee also plans to attend a Korea-Kazakhstan business forum.
