Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- Deputy Director of ISMI S. Valiev commented on the speech of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev at the Second International Forum of Northern Economic Cooperation.

This event has become one of the most significant events in Asia among those held this year. The agenda included such topical issues as joint overcoming of the consequences of the pandemic and the expansion of international partnership in the field of socio-economic development.

The head of Uzbekistan in his speech once again outlined a firm commitment to multilateral cooperation in order to overcome pressing modern problems. He paid special attention to the priorities of interaction at this stage in the context of continuing the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

Seoul is widely recognized as pursuing a comprehensive strategy against coronavirus, based on the use of ICT technologies and the development of medical infrastructure. The South Korean authorities manage to successfully control the spread of the infection and quickly respond to focal outbreaks. More than 20 medical and pharmaceutical companies are ramping up production of protective equipment and test kits.

It should be noted that the strategy of the Republic of Korea to counter the pandemic has received worldwide recognition. The WHO called Seoul's measures "the most effective way to fight infection." The country entered the top ten leaders in terms of the quality of the organization of quarantine measures, monitoring, diagnostics and the readiness of the healthcare system to fight the coronavirus.

Today the Republic of Korea is one of the world leaders in the production of tests. The country produces nearly 1 million kits per day. A group of virologists at the Seoul Institute of Basic Sciences is developing a vaccine. It is planned to conduct vaccine trials in 2020 and start serial production in 2021.

Since the first days of the spread of coronavirus, Tashkent and Seoul have established close cooperation in this area, which is a reflection of the traditionally close bilateral ties in the healthcare sector. That is why Shavkat Mirziyoyev at the forum outlined very specific and demanded areas for further interaction.

It should be noted that negotiations are already underway on many of them and agreements have been reached that meet the mutual interests of the parties. The continuation of joint work on the production of effective vaccines and serums, systems for rapid and accurate diagnosis of diseases on the basis of a pharmaceutical cluster, created in conjunction with Korean companies, will certainly increase the possibilities of medical provision not only in Uzbekistan, but also in the Central Asian region as a whole.

Of no less importance for the development of the health care system are the proposals made on the organization of modern laboratories and the modernization of sanitary control points, as well as the training of epidemiologists and virologists with the participation of leading universities of the Republic of Korea.

Uzbekistan, in turn, actively supports initiatives in this area, promoted by the South Korean side on the world stage within the UN, WHO, FAO and other international organizations.

The President gave an important place in his speech to the development of digital and green technologies. It should be noted that the proposals put forward by Shavkat Mirziyoyev echo the appeal of Moon Jae In, voiced during the forum, "to develop more digital and" green "cooperation within the framework of the Northern Economic Cooperation.

It becomes obvious that Tashkent and Seoul view the forum as an additional platform for exchanging experience in the development of e-government, digital and “green” technologies, which will give impetus to the development of the economies of countries in the post-pandemic period.

South Korea stands out for its determination to develop green technologies. Seoul firmly states that the Green Deal is an opportunity to create high-tech, high-paying green industries of the future with huge export and job creation potential.

In July 2020, Korean President Moon Jae-in announced the Korean New Deal (K-New Deal), which involves an infusion of US$135 billion in green and digital investments. Its implementation is expected to increase production by US$140-160 billion and create more than 1.5 million jobs.

In fact, having the necessary experience and material and technical base, Seoul closely cooperates with Tashkent in this direction. As a striking example, we can cite the opening this year in Tashkent of a joint Uzbek-Korean Center for Cooperation on e-government and digital economy. The Korean side provided a grant of US$2 million for the implementation of information systems and measures to improve the e-government system, digitalization projects and the development of the digital economy.

During his speech, the President also touched upon the topic of expanding cooperation within the framework of the Central Asia - Republic of Korea forum. The President suggested holding a meeting of the heads of government within the framework of this forum, that is, raising the activities of this body to a higher level.

This step will help bring interaction between countries to a qualitatively new stage, as well as saturate it with relevant socio-economic projects and, most importantly, ensure their rapid and effective implementation.

It should be noted that today the "New Northern Policy" is acquiring particular importance for both Seoul and Tashkent for two main reasons.

First, the government of the Republic of Korea is implementing this strategy to create conditions for the establishment of peace on the Korean Peninsula and build infrastructure for the unification of Korea.

At the same time, Uzbekistan fully supports the active efforts of President Moon Jae-in to achieve lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula. A striking example of this is the proposal put forward by the head of our Republic to hold an International Expert Forum on nuclear disarmament, the creation of nuclear-weapon-free zones, which aroused wide interest among the Korean partners.

In particular, the leading Korean publications The Korea Times and Yonhap News pointed to the unique experience of the Central Asian countries in this direction, stressing that this will be an important contribution to ensuring regional and global security.

Secondly, the government of the Republic of Korea through the "New Northern Policy" is active in such areas as providing new incentives for economic growth and development of transport corridors.

As you know, the Republic of Korea is one of the most active investors in developing countries. The volume of direct investments in foreign countries for the year (from September 2019 to September 2020 amounted to US$32.2 billion, of which over US$3.4 billion were directed to the countries of Central Asia.

In this vein, Tashkent acts as an important economic partner of Seoul in the region, economic cooperation has been established between the countries, a most favored nation regime has been created, a facilitated visa regime and agreements on labor migration are in force. Uzbekistan accounts for almost 50% of South Korea's trade with Central Asia.

The head of our country also mentioned this during his speech at the forum, emphasizing that he considers the Republic of Korea as one of the key suppliers of high technologies and direct investments.

To date, more than 70 representative offices of Korean companies are accredited in Uzbekistan, 440 enterprises with Korean investments operate in almost all sectors of the economy. The signed agreements on loans of the Fund for Economic Cooperation and Development for 2018-2020 in the amount of US$500 million made it possible to implement projects to create the Uzbek-Korean Textile Technopark, a highly specialized medical center, the House of Korean Culture in Uzbekistan and others.

In addition, in 2020, amendments were made to the Convention in the tax area, which assumes the avoidance of double taxation and prevents the evasion of taxes on income and capital, which further contributes to intensive trade and investment cooperation.

Moreover, Shavkat Mirziyoyev outlined the relevance of the development of efficient regional transport corridors, which aroused genuine interest among Korean partners. In particular, the proposal to study the potential of connecting the routes of the Trans-Siberian Railway and the Western Europe - Western China corridor with the projects of new railways in the Central Asian region is quite capable of laying the foundation for transport and logistics routes connecting Central Asia through Russia, China and Korea with the North -East, Southeast and South Asia.

In addition, the implementation of the initiative will provide an opportunity for the countries of the region to access seaports, increasing trade between the project participants.

Attracting the huge investment potential of the Republic of Korea for the development of industrial cooperation and transport-logical infrastructure will make Central Asia a key link in the global supply chain of goods and services to foreign markets.

It is safe to say that the last forum once again confirmed that the new, open foreign policy of Tashkent and the New Northern Policy of Seoul organically complement each other, creating a solid platform for trade, economic, cultural and humanitarian cooperation between the two countries.