Ambassador Fen of Uzbekistan helps Korea, Uzbekistan ‘brother countries’

By Publisher-Chairman Lee Kyung-sik with VCs Jang Chang-yong, Joy Cho

The Republic of Uzbekistan, located in the heart of Central Asia on the Silk Road with centuries of history and tradition, home to over 180,000 members of the Korean diaspora, is a traditionally friendly country for the Republic of Korea and the Korean people.

In February 2018, Uzbekistan introduced a visa-free system for Korean tourists, and in 2019, the number of flights increased, allowing more people to travel between the two countries.

The economic relations between the two countries are characterized by a steady increase in the number of Korean companies operating on the territory of the Republic of Uzbekistan.

Since the establishment of diplomatic relations in 1992, the Republic of Korea and Uzbekistan have developed dynamic relations in various fields, including politics, economy, society, culture, and science and technology. In April 2019, President Moon Jae-in visited Uzbekistan and elevated the bilateral relationship to a "special strategic partnership," further strengthening our mutually beneficial cooperation.

In particular, 16 high-level meetings have been held since the establishment of diplomatic relations, and the mutual trust that has been built up has become a solid foundation for the close and practical kinship between Korea and Uzbekistan that is the envy of both countries.

Uzbekistan is also a key partner in the New Northern Policy, which seeks to achieve peace and prosperity in the Eurasian continent through a permanent peace settlement on the Korean Peninsula.

Therefore, the cooperation between the Republic of Korea and Uzbekistan will not only contribute to the development of mutually beneficial bilateral cooperation, but also usher in a 'New Era of the Silk Road' bringing about common prosperity in the Eurasian region.

Korea became the first country in the Asia-Pacific region to recognize the independence of Uzbekistan in December 1991. Diplomatic relations between the two countries were established in January 1992. Bilateral relations have grown steadily since that time. Cooperation between the two nations has grown in political, economic, and educational spheres.

Korea and Uzbekistan formally established diplomatic relations in January 1992. Soon thereafter Korea opened its embassy in Tashkent, and Uzbekistan opened its embassy in Seoul.

The then President Islam Karimov of the Republic of Uzbekistan made eight official visits to Korea, in 1992, 1995, 1999, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012 and 2015. During his visit to Korea in 2006, President Karimov was awarded the title of Honorary Citizen of Seoul, by the then Mayor of Seoul Lee Myung-bak who later became the President of the Republic of Korea.

In 1994, the then President Kim Young-sam visited Uzbekistan. In 2004, President the then Roh Moo-hyun visited Uzbekistan. His successor, President Lee Myung-bak, visited Uzbekistan twice in 2009 and 2011. President Madam Park Geun-hye visited Uzbekistan in 2014 where she and President Karimov signed several agreements to strengthen economic and investment cooperation and technology exchange between the two countries.

In 2016, North Korea was forced to close its embassy in Tashkent and North Korean diplomats left Uzbekistan.

In 2017, Karimov's successor Shavkat Mirziyoyev visited Seoul for a four-day visit, where he met with Korean President Moon Jae-in.

At a ceremony of a Korea-Uzbekistan business forum, a wide range of issues on bilateral agenda were discussed including the prospects for further development of interstate relations in political, trade-economic, financial-investment, scientific-technical, cultural-humanitarian and other spheres, exchange views on regional and international issues.

During his visit, Mirziyoyev was also awarded the title of Honorary Citizen of Seoul by Mayor Park Won-soon.

In 2019, President Moon Jae-in visited Uzbekistan on a four-day state visit, where he met with President Miriziyoyev. Including discussions on advancing bilateral ties, President Moon addressed the joint session of Oliy Majlis and attended the opening ceremony of the House of Korean Culture and Art in Tashkent.

Economic relations:

Uzbekistan is South Korea's largest trading partner in Central Asia. Following the 2005 Andijan unrest, which led to the United States and European Union placing trade and economic sanctions against Uzbekistan, South Korea along with China, Japan and Russia continued economic and trade relations with Uzbekistan, with no demands on human rights.

In 2006, South Korea and Uzbekistan signed a declaration on strategic partnership, which they agreed to develop and deepen further in a new Joint Declaration signed during President Park Geun-hye's visit to Tashkent in 2014.

During President Karimov's visit to South Korea in 2015, 60 documents relating to trade, investment, economic and technical cooperation and other spheres were signed, at a total worth of US$7.7 billion. In 2015, bilateral trade turnover between the countries exceeded US$1.7 billion, corresponding to 50 percent of South Korea's trade with Central Asian republics.

In 2009, Korean Air Cargo took over the management of Navoi International Airport and, under the 10-year development plan, further accelerated the modernization program. Construction of the largest air cargo terminal in Central Asia that can handle 100,000 tons of cargo annually using latest equipment.

In August 2010, Hanjin Group, the parent of Korean Air, inaugurated the cargo terminal at Navoi, which now serves as the intercontinental logistics center from Central Asia. South Korea has been active in numerous projects and programs in different regions of Uzbekistan, including the free economic zones at Navoi and Angren.

In 2016, Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn visited Uzbekistan, where he joined then Prime Minister of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev in the inauguration of the largest bilateral cooperation project, the Ustyurt Gas Chemical Complex in Karakalpakstan. The cost of the project was US$4 billion.

Korea and Uzbekistan also founded the joint venture LG CNS Uzbekistan in 2015, to support the implementation of information systems and databases for E-Government in order to facilitate the mobility of people, business and government system in Uzbekistan.

Uzbekistan and Korea have also agreed on training programs, under which thousands of representatives of Uzbek small and medium-size businesses annually work and receive training in Korean enterprises and companies.

As of 2019, Uzbekistan is South Korea's third largest partner in emerging Europe and Central Asia, with trade reaching $2.36 billion and South Korean investment in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan exceeding $7 billion.

Uzbekistan is also the third largest training partner among countries in the Commonwealth of Independent States, after Russia and Kazakhstan. South Korea primarily exports vehicles, machinery, construction material and equipment, while Uzbekistan exports natural resources and agricultural products.

In April 2019, South Korean President Moon Jae-in made a state visit to Tashkent. After a meeting between Deputy Prime Minister of Uzbekistan Aler Ganiev and Deputy Prime Minister of South Korea Hong Nam-ki, South Korea and Uzbekistan have agreed to work on implementing a free trade agreement to expand bilateral economic and trade relations.

In March 2020, the two countries met for a virtual conference to organize a joint study on bilateral free trade, with the feasibility study concluding in November 2020.

In November 2020, South Korea and Uzbekistan met during the 13th Central Asia-South Korea Cooperation Forum in Seoul, in which they discussed the consequences and opportunities for economic cooperation in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the removal of remaining barriers to trade and improving product quality and competitiveness.

In January 2021, the countries declared the start of discussions for a bilateral free trade agreement to be called the "Agreement for Sustainable Trade and Economic Partnership"

Uzbekistan has invited South Korean experts to take positions as deputy minister in the ministry for development of information technologies and communications, as well vice rectors at several universities. In 2014, South Korea's Inha University opened a branch in Tashkent, which focuses on computer sciences and high-tech engineering and gives all courses in English.

Yeoju Institute of Technology opened the Yeoju Technical Institute in Tashkent, which became the first private university in Uzbekistan. Courses include areas as architecture and urban planning, civil engineering, alternative energy, business management, tourism, international marketing, international economic relations, primary education, Korean language philology, and aesthetics and dresses’ design.

In 2019, during President Moon Jae-in's visit to Uzbekistan, the Korean Culture and Art House was opened in Tashkent. There are Korean Cultural Centers in Uzbek cities of Samarkand, Bukhara, and Nukus.

Ambassador Vitaly Fen of Uzbekistan:

Ambassador Vasilievich Fen is considered the longest-serving diplomat in Korea among all the countries of the world-serving in Korea from 1995 to 2013 and then to date following his return to Korea as ambassador after a short period of stay in Uzbekistan.

Ambassador Fen loves Uzbekistan and also Korea as one of the prominent Korean descendants in Uzbekistan.

Fen began to play a role in relations between Korea and Uzbekistan as early as in 1992, soon after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, when he set up the first of twelve meetings he would ultimately organize between the Korea and the President of Uzbekistan.

By 2007, with the departure of El Salvadorean ambassador Alfredo Ungo, Fen became the Dean of the Seoul Diplomatic Corps in Korea.[

He departed from Korea in August 2013, leaving the position of dean of the diplomatic corps to the then Ambassador Harun Ismail of Brunei Darussalam.

Fen is of Korean descent; his grandparents were Korean immigrants to the Soviet Union, who settled in Vladivostok before being deported in 1937 to the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic, where Fen himself was born in the capital Tashkent. He is married Lyudmila, who was also of Korean descent. He began studying the Korean language in 1988, and made his first trip to Korea in 1989 to attend the World Ethnic Korean Festival.