President Lee Myung-bak's state visits to Central Asia produced a meaningful outcome in upgrading Korea's ties with Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan and extending cooperation in energy resources and economy on a substantial level.

This presidential visit was a successful first step to realize President Lee's "New Asia Initiative," which he announced earlier this year by expanding the scope of Korea's Asia-focused diplomacy.
In Tashkent on May 11, President Lee and his Uzbek counterpart Islam Karimov issued a 12-point joint agreement and agreed to build a win-win cooperative partnership and enhance energy and economic cooperation, stressing the strategic partnership between the two countries.

Korea and Uzbekistan signed a total of 16 deals regarding joint exploration projects of five new gas fields and drilling of new oil reserves in Uzbekistan, including in the western Fergana region. Apart from the 16 deals, as a main contractor, Korea's state-run National Oil Corp. and national oil company Uzbekneftegaz also signed a memorandum of understanding to carry out the oil exploration project during the presidential visit. The two have previously signed a joint exploration deal in Uzbekistan's Namagan-Tergachi and Chust-Pap regions in 2006.

At the Korea-Uzbek business forum, Lee proposed a joint project titled a "New Silk Road" with Uzbekistan. President Lee said Seoul and Tashkent will be able to open the era of a New Silk Road in the 21st century by carrying out the joint project backed by Korea's advanced IT technology and Uzbekistan's vast logistics and railway networks.

At the summit in Kazakhstan's Astana on May 13, President Lee and his Kazakh counterpart Nursultan Nazarbayev adopted an "action plan" designed to enhance bilateral economic and diplomatic collaboration in the areas of energy cooperation, trade, culture, labor and construction.
Lee and Nazarbayev agreed to strengthen the bilateral cooperation in the joint development of oil fields and minerals. Korea and Kazakhstan also agreed to boost cooperation in the fields of infrastructure construction, including generation and supply of electric power, railroad along with shipbuilding and IT industries.

The two leaders signed ten agreements, including nine memoranda of understanding (MOUs) regarding joint development of the Jambil maritime oil block in the Caspian Sea, as well as a thermal power plant in Balkhash and collaboration in establishing wireless internet networks in the Central Asian country.

At the Korea-Kazakhstan business forum on new growth on May 13, Lee proposed that Seoul and Astana should strengthen the bilateral cooperation by focusing on the so-called "three belts" areas -- energy, IT and transportation.

The forum was attended by nearly 80 Korean corporate executives and 70 Kazakh business leaders, including Kazakh Prime Minister Karim Massimov.

Stressing the close bilateral cooperation in economic and industrial sectors, and citing on-going large-scale joint cooperation projects between the two countries, President Lee said Korea's new vision of “low carbon green growth” and Kazakhstan's strong interest in green industry will enable a win-win partnership and play a leading role in the era of green growth in the world.

During the presidential tour, Korea also successfully upgraded its relations with the two Central Asian countries backed by deep mutual trust.

After giving an unprecedented welcome at the airport upon President Lee's arrival in Tashkent on May 10, Uzbek President Islam Karimov accompanied Lee throughout his visit to the country. Kazakh President Nazarbayev offered Lee an opportunity to visit the sauna at the presidential retreat, where only the leaders of some selected countries, including former Russian President Vladimir Putin, have visited.

During the five-day presidential visit, Lee won the support of both countries for his "New Asia Initiative," aimed at improving regional cooperation for the prosperity of all Asian countries as the two leaders welcomed and agreed to support the "timely" diplomacy campaign.