Korea and Central Asia: Business Leaders from Six Countries Gather... Strengthening Cooperation in Investment, Minerals, Infrastructure, and More

[Financial News] Business leaders from Korea and five Central Asian countries gathered in one place and agreed to further strengthen economic cooperation ranging from trade and investment to key minerals, energy, infrastructure, and logistics.
On the 16th, the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) held the '1st Korea-Central Asia Business Summit of 2026' at The Westin Josun Seoul. KCCI Chairman Chey Tae-won welcomed the leaders and reported the key contents of the joint declaration on behalf of the business communities of Korea and five Central Asian countries.
Chairman Chey emphasized, "What is important is that today's joint declaration does not remain merely a declaration," adding, "The business community will play an active role to ensure that the commitment to cooperation confirmed in the joint declaration leads to actual investment and business, and that more Korean and Central Asian companies can find new opportunities in each other's markets."
This summit, organized on the occasion of the first Korea-Central Asia Summit, was attended by President Lee Jae Myung, leaders of six countries including Kazakhstan President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, Kyrgyzstan President Sadyr Japarov, Tajikistan President Emomali Rahmon, Turkmenistan President Serdar Berdimuhamedow, and Uzbekistan President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, as well as about 520 political and business figures from Korea and Central Asia.
On the Korean side, a large number of officials from the government, major companies, and public institutions attended, including Chey Tae-won, Chairman of the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry; Kim Jung-kwan, Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy; Foreign Minister Cho Hyun; Chang In-hwa, Chairman of POSCO Group; Koo Ja-eun, Chairman of LS Group; Jin Ok-dong, Chairman of Shinhan Financial Group Co., Ltd.; Park Seung-hee, President of Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.; Sechul Oh, President & CEO of Samsung C&T Corporation; Seo Gang-hyun, President of Hyundai Motor Company; Kang Kyung-sung, President of the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA); and Yoon Seok-dae, President of the Korea Water Resources Corporation (K-water).
Since establishing diplomatic relations in 1992, Korea and Central Asia have steadily expanded economic cooperation, focusing on resources, energy, construction, and plant engineering. Recently, as Central Asian countries actively pursue industrial diversification, high value-added production, and digital transformation, areas of cooperation are gradually diversifying into consumer goods, healthcare, high-tech industries, and smart infrastructure.
In particular, this summit is considered significant in that it expanded economic cooperation, which has developed around individual countries, into multilateral cooperation involving Korea and five Central Asian countries, and established a new economic cooperation platform where the governments and business communities of the six countries share future directions for cooperation.
The business communities of Korea and five Central Asian countries adopted the 'Joint Declaration of the Korea-Central Asia Business Community' on this day, which contains the direction of future economic cooperation and the will to implement it.
Through a joint declaration, the business communities of the six countries presented the following as key directions for cooperation: diversifying trade and investment and identifying new cooperation opportunities in the AI and digital sectors; expanding core mineral value chains and strengthening energy cooperation, including renewable energy and nuclear power; and expanding cooperation in plants, infrastructure, and logistics, as well as identifying business opportunities in future infrastructure sectors such as smart cities.
A total of 19 cooperation MOUs involving major companies and institutions were signed at the site on this day. Focusing on concretizing existing cooperation and identifying new business opportunities in various fields such as core minerals and energy, infrastructure and logistics, digital and AI, smart cities, bio, and education, Hyundai Motor Company decided to explore smart city cooperation models in Kazakhstan, while the Korea Institute of Industrial Technology (KITECH) plans to strengthen cooperation with Kazakhstan in the rare metals industry.
Kim Jeong-il, Executive Vice Chairman of the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI), stated, "This business summit is significant in that the leaders and business leaders of Korea and five Central Asian countries gathered to share the direction of future cooperation and laid the foundation for new multilateral economic cooperation." He added, "The KCCI will actively support the cooperation ideas and commitments discussed at this summit so that they can lead to actual investments and business outcomes."

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