BAKU, Azerbaijan, September 18. The Central
Asia–Republic of Korea Summit, which opened in Seoul on September
16, marked a new stage in economic cooperation between Turkmenistan
and the Republic of Korea. During President Serdar Berdimuhamedov’s
state visit, the two sides signed 13 bilateral agreements and
memoranda, including an agreement on the mutual protection of
investments, as well as arrangements covering rail transport,
shipbuilding, the construction of new cities, water management,
artificial intelligence, and science.
The economic dimension also constituted one of the central areas
of discussion at the regional level. Following the meeting of the
leaders of the five Central Asian states, President of the Republic
of Korea Lee Jae Myung called for expanding cooperation beyond
raw-material trade to encompass the entire value chain, from
resource development and processing to the joint production of
high-tech goods. Seoul likewise reaffirmed its intention to deepen
cooperation with Central Asia in the fields of energy,
infrastructure, technology, and supply chains.
For Turkmenistan, this agenda is particularly significant. The
agreements reached correspond closely with the areas of transport,
industry, technology, and investment that have assumed increasing
importance in President Serdar Berdimuhamedov’s foreign economic
policy in recent years. In this broader context, the summit may be
viewed as another element of the country’s long-term strategy to
strengthen its position as an energy, industrial, and transit hub
of the region.
At the same time, the practical returns of such initiatives are
becoming especially visible now. As Trend previously noted in its analytical piece
"Inside Turkmenistan’s
investment cycle: How Turkish contractors anchor a new phase of
economic expansion," the country is entering a new investment
cycle, triggered by the start of the fourth phase of development at
the Galkynysh field - one of the world's largest gas deposits. In
April 2026, Turkmengaz and CNPC signed an agreement to build new
facilities that will allow processing of up to 10 billion cubic
meters of additional gas per year. A project of this scale creates
a multiplier effect across the economy: demand rises for
construction work, industrial equipment, engineering solutions,
transport infrastructure and logistics. Against this backdrop,
international agreements take on added practical weight, giving
foreign companies the chance to take part not only in individual
contracts but in a much larger cycle of economic modernization.
Viewed against South Korea's existing footprint in Turkmenistan,
many of the areas outlined in Seoul turn out to rest on solid
practical ground. South Korean companies have been involved in the
development of Turkmen industry for many years, chiefly in gas
chemicals, infrastructure and machine building. One of the
best-known examples remains the gas-chemical complex in Kiyanly,
built by a consortium led by Hyundai Engineering with the
participation of LG International (now LX International), which
produces polyethylene and polypropylene.
This cooperation has not been limited to facilities already
completed. In 2024, Hyundai Engineering signed new agreements with
Turkmengaz on further development of the Galkynysh field and the
rehabilitation of a polymer plant, with the value of potential
orders estimated at roughly $6 billion. Korean companies are thus
continuing to operate precisely in the segments that are gaining
additional momentum under Turkmenistan's new investment cycle.
It is the transport dimension, however, that best illustrates
the link between industrial cooperation and Turkmenistan's push to
become a transit hub. In May 2026, Turkmenistan commissioned the
Gadamly dry cargo ship, the first vessel of its kind to be fully
built in the country. It was constructed at the Balkan Shipbuilding
and Ship-Repair Plant together with South Korea's Koryo
Shipbuilding Industry Technology Co., Ltd. Korean specialists took
part in technology transfer and the training of local personnel.
The vessel has a deadweight of 6,100 tons and can carry up to 240
twenty-ton containers.
In May, the Gadamly made its first voyage to Azerbaijan and now
operates on a regular line between the ports of Turkmenbashi and
Baku. In effect, Korean technology has been built directly into a
working transport route linking Turkmenistan's Caspian coast with
Azerbaijan's transport infrastructure. Turkmenistan also plans to
commission a second dry cargo vessel, the Menzil, currently under
construction with the involvement of the same Korean partners.
This is why it was significant that, ahead of the summit, South
Korean President Lee Jae Myung specifically tied Turkmenistan's
potential to its geographic position. He said the country's
abundant resources could become the basis for high-value-added
industries, while its location linking the Caspian Sea and Central
Asia could turn it into a new hub for logistics and trade. During
talks with President Serdar Berdimuhamedov, the two sides also
agreed that the "Revival of the Great Silk Road" concept could
serve as a new driver of growth connecting Central Asia with the
Caspian Sea.
Seen in this light, the Gadamly route shows how a single
industrial-technology project can become a building block of the
Trans-Caspian transport system. Baku plays a pivotal role in this
scheme for Turkmenistan: Azerbaijan is developing the port and rail
infrastructure of Baku, along with other elements of the East-West
corridor, which runs from Central Asia across the Caspian and
through Azerbaijan onward to Georgia, Türkiye and Europe, thereby
linking Asia with Europe. Azerbaijan has officially stated that
developing this route creates opportunities for Turkmenistan and
other Central Asian countries to reach European and global
markets.
Korean involvement in Turkmen shipbuilding thus offers a fairly
clear example of how industrial cooperation can evolve into
transport infrastructure, which in turn feeds into international
logistics. It is precisely this sequence that allows the current
Korean-Turkmen dialogue to be viewed as part of building a route in
which Turkmenistan serves as the Caspian link connecting Central
Asia with Azerbaijan and, further on, with Europe.
Still, viewing what is happening in Seoul solely through the
lens of bilateral relations between Turkmenistan and South Korea
would be incomplete. For Ashgabat, the summit is another element of
the C5+1 format, which gives the five Central Asian states a
platform to discuss economic, technological and transport issues
jointly with major outside partners. The most illustrative and
comparable examples in terms of the issues covered have been the
C5+1 summits and meetings held with the United States, Japan and
now South Korea.
Over the recent period, this model has developed consistently
along several tracks. At the first Central Asia-Japan summit in
Tokyo in December 2025, a dedicated section was devoted to
transport and digital connectivity. In the final declaration, the
leaders stressed the need to expand Central Asia's access to
international markets and backed the development of the
Trans-Caspian International Transport Route as a tool for
strengthening the region's connectivity and its access to global
markets. The parties also agreed to develop cooperation in
artificial intelligence and digital technologies. Trend examined Japan's
strategy in Turkmenistan in more detail in its article "Serdar Berdimuhamedov's
investment strategy: Role of Japanese business."
The American track has developed around a somewhat different set
of interests. Within the C5+1 format, discussions in Ashgabat in
early September 2026 focused on expanding cooperation between the
five Central Asian countries and the United States in critical
minerals, trade and transport, while a seminar held on September
15-16 was devoted to artificial intelligence, digitalization,
cybersecurity, satellite communications and data centers. This
shows that, even where specific priorities differ - from mineral
supply chains to digital infrastructure - the central element of
engagement remains connecting the region to international economic
and technological chains.
The Korean summit looks like the next link in the same chain of
events. Seoul is placing its emphasis on combining Central Asia's
industrial potential with Korean technology, investment and
manufacturing expertise. In the outcomes of the first summit, the
parties agreed to develop joint value chains in critical minerals
and energy, and to expand cooperation in industry, artificial
intelligence, science and technology. Seoul has also established a
separate mechanism for meetings between the industry ministers of
Central Asian countries and Korea.
For Turkmenistan, the significance of this sequence lies in the
fact that the country is acting simultaneously on several external
fronts, drawing on different areas of expertise to serve its own
development goals. At the same time, the C5+1 format gives each
Central Asian country an additional platform to advance its
interests as part of a region with a combined population of roughly
80 million people. This is not about creating a single market in an
institutional sense, but about a regional platform that allows the
shared infrastructural, resource, and economic potential of the
five countries to be presented as an interconnected space.
This is precisely where the interests of Turkmenistan and its
external partners converge. For the United States, Japan and South
Korea, Central Asia is becoming a space where they can
simultaneously work with resources, industry, technology and new
transport routes. For Turkmenistan, these partnerships allow it to
consistently attract the investment, technology and expertise
needed to carry out President Serdar Berdimuhamedov's policy course
as the country enters a new investment cycle. And the development
of ties across the Caspian adds another important element to this
system - a route for Central Asia, via Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan,
to transport infrastructure leading further on to European
markets.
In this sense, the Seoul summit can be viewed as a closing point
in the current stage of Turkmenistan's efforts to build a new
economic and transit configuration. The country has steadily
attracted investment, technology and industrial expertise, while
simultaneously developing its own production base and the
infrastructure needed to access international transport routes.
These strands are now beginning to converge into a single chain, in
which industrial development generates cargo volumes, technology
ensures their efficient movement, and the Caspian route together
with the partnership with Azerbaijan opens the way to markets
further to the west.
For Ashgabat, the next challenge is to make this accumulated
potential function as a single system. New industrial projects need
to generate sufficient cargo volumes, the development of ports and
the fleet needs to ensure their movement across the Caspian, and
international partnerships need to sustain a steady flow of
investment and technology. If this chain is consistently put into
practice, the current investment cycle could become the foundation
for cementing Turkmenistan's role as a transit link between Central
Asia, the Caspian, and the European direction.
