BAKU, Azerbaijan, September 15. Uzbekistan and
South Korea are preparing to further deepen their economic
partnership as President Shavkat Mirziyoyev undertakes a state
visit to Seoul and participates in the first Central Asia–South
Korea summit, with technology, investment, and industrial
cooperation high on the agenda.
Mirziyoyev’s September 13–16 visit comes at a time when
relations between Tashkent and Seoul are expanding beyond
traditional areas of economic cooperation. The two sides are
placing increasing emphasis on technology-intensive industries,
joint production, and new areas of industrial cooperation,
reflecting Uzbekistan’s broader efforts to modernize its economy
and attract higher-value investment.
For Mirziyoyev, South Korea’s role in this process extends
beyond the provision of capital. Tashkent is seeking to leverage
the partnership to gain access to advanced technologies, enhance
domestic production capabilities, and connect Uzbek companies with
regional and global supply chains.
From investment to industrial partnership
Economic ties have expanded considerably during Mirziyoyev's
presidency. Korean investment in Uzbekistan has exceeded $8
billion, while the countries' cooperation with the Korea
International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), the Export-Import Bank of
Korea and related funds has generated a project portfolio of more
than $3.5 billion. Uzbekistan has also developed hundreds of joint
ventures with Korean participation.
Yet the direction of the relationship is changing. In previous
stages, the central objective was to attract Korean companies,
investment and equipment to Uzbekistan. The emerging model places
greater emphasis on technology-intensive production and the
creation of domestic value chains.
This was made explicit during Mirziyoyev's September 2025
meeting with Lee. The two presidents agreed to prepare a long-term
Program of Technological and Industrial Partnership covering areas
including critical-mineral processing, chemicals, mechanical
engineering, agriculture, transport, aviation and
biotechnology.
That agenda reflects a broader priority of Mirziyoyev's economic
policy: moving Uzbekistan from a market that primarily attracts
investment into one that can use foreign investment to build
productive and technological capacity.
“We can open a new page in the partnership – move from
successful cooperation in individual sectors to the formation of
common production systems, technological platforms and new
markets,” Mirziyoyev said.
The wording is significant. It suggests that Tashkent's
objective is no longer simply to increase the number of
Korean-funded projects. It is to deepen their economic impact by
connecting investment with local production, technology transfer
and access to new markets.
Korea as a partner in Uzbekistan's technological
transition
The sectors now being prioritized demonstrate the direction of
this strategy. Uzbekistan and South Korea have identified
cooperation in artificial intelligence, semiconductors, robotics,
electric transport, biotechnology, smart agriculture and smart
cities as areas with significant potential. Earlier bilateral
agreements also identified critical minerals, semiconductor
production, green hydrogen and ammonia, mechanical engineering,
digital agriculture, infrastructure modernization and energy
efficiency as strategic areas. These sectors are qualitatively
different from traditional investment in infrastructure or resource
extraction.
For Uzbekistan, they offer the possibility of increasing the
share of higher-value activities in its economy. For South Korea,
meanwhile, Uzbekistan offers a growing market, a large labor force,
access to Central Asian resources and a potential production base
closer to regional markets. The interests are therefore
increasingly complementary.
Uzbekistan wants to process more of its own resources and
develop domestic technological capabilities. South Korea is looking
to diversify supply chains and secure reliable access to critical
raw materials and new markets. A deeper industrial partnership can
potentially address both objectives.
Critical minerals are a key example of this shift. Instead of
focusing on the export of unprocessed resources, Uzbekistan is
seeking Korean expertise and investment to develop domestic
processing and move into higher-value production. This is
consistent with Mirziyoyev’s broader industrial policy of raising
the share of value generated within the country. A similar approach
is emerging in areas such as semiconductors, electric vehicles and
biotechnology, where Tashkent aims to move beyond technology
imports toward developing production capabilities at home.
The Korean development model also matters
There is another reason South Korea occupies a special place in
Mirziyoyev's foreign economic strategy. Seoul offers Uzbekistan
more than corporate investment. It provides a model of rapid
industrialization, export-oriented growth, technological upgrading
and human-capital development that is particularly relevant to a
country seeking to transform its own economic structure. This helps
explain the breadth of the bilateral relationship.
Four branches of leading Korean universities operate in
Uzbekistan, while vocational education centers have also been
established. Cooperation with Korean institutions therefore extends
into education and workforce development — areas that become
increasingly important as Uzbekistan moves toward more
technology-intensive industries.
Human capital is another important element of this strategy. As
Uzbekistan seeks to expand into more technology-intensive
industries, cooperation with South Korea extends beyond investment
and industrial projects to education, vocational training and the
development of technical expertise. This gives the partnership a
longer-term dimension, as Uzbekistan seeks to build the skills
needed to support the technologies and industries it hopes to
attract.
Taken together, these priorities show that Mirziyoyev is
pursuing a broader form of economic cooperation with South Korea —
one that combines investment with technology, industrial capacity
and human capital. The goal is not simply to bring Korean
businesses into Uzbekistan, but to increase the country's ability
to participate in more sophisticated stages of production and
create greater value domestically.
A regional strategy, not only a bilateral
one
The emerging relationship also needs to be viewed through
Mirziyoyev's regional policy. The first Central Asia–South Korea
summit in Seoul on September 16-17 represents an important
institutional development. Unlike the earlier ministerial format,
the new mechanism brings together the leaders of South Korea and
the five Central Asian states. The agenda is expected to cover
investment, trade, energy, critical minerals and supply chains.
For Uzbekistan, this creates an additional opportunity.
Mirziyoyev has increasingly sought to position Uzbekistan as a
regional economic and transport hub. Deeper cooperation between
South Korea and Central Asia could reinforce that objective by
connecting Korean companies and financial institutions with a
broader regional market.
Uzbekistan's large domestic market and its growing role in
regional transport and infrastructure networks make it an important
partner for South Korea's broader engagement with Central Asia. The
emerging Korea - Central Asia framework can therefore complement
Tashkent's bilateral strategy by creating opportunities to connect
Uzbekistan with wider Korean supply chains and investment networks
across the region. South Korea is also considering a C5+Korea
industry ministers' mechanism to expand cooperation with all five
Central Asian countries, including in areas such as AI-driven
manufacturing, trade and investment.
For Mirziyoyev, the regional format provides a way to link his
growing partnership with Seoul to his broader efforts to strengthen
economic cooperation across Central Asia. While bilateral ties
remain focused on specific investment and technology projects, the
regional framework could give Uzbekistan an additional platform to
attract Korean companies, integrate into regional production
networks and strengthen its position as an economic hub in Central
Asia.
What comes next
The depth of existing cooperation gives Tashkent a strong
foundation, with the partnership’s future impact increasingly tied
to its contribution to Uzbekistan’s domestic economic and
technological capabilities. The growth in investment, and the
number of joint projects demonstrate the attractiveness of the
Uzbek market; the more consequential question is whether these
projects generate technology transfer, skilled employment, local
suppliers and products that can compete beyond the domestic
market.
This is where Mirziyoyev's push for “common production systems,
technological platforms and new markets” becomes particularly
important. A deeper Korean presence in research, advanced
manufacturing and technology-intensive industries could help
Uzbekistan capture a larger share of value within regional and
global supply chains. At the same time, the strategy carries a
clear challenge: attracting capital alone does not guarantee
technological upgrading. The extent of local participation and
knowledge transfer will determine how much of the value created
through Korean investment remains in Uzbekistan.
The emerging Korea–Central Asia framework adds another dimension
to this strategy. By combining bilateral investment ties with
regional mechanisms, Tashkent can seek to position Uzbekistan not
only as a destination for Korean companies, but also as a platform
through which they can access wider Central Asian markets. This
could strengthen the economic rationale for Korean investment in
Uzbekistan while supporting Mirziyoyev's broader ambition to make
the country more deeply integrated into regional trade and
production networks.
The September summit therefore offers an early indication of
whether this approach is gaining institutional momentum. If the new
initiatives translate into concrete industrial projects, technology
partnerships, and regional supply chains, South Korea's role in
Uzbekistan's economy could evolve significantly — from a major
source of investment and development financing into a long-term
partner in the country's industrial and technological
transformation.
