Turning to President Moon Jae-in's three nation tour of Central Asia.
The South Korean leader is due to leave Turkmenistan in the coming hours, but not before touring a massive petrochemical plant site, built by a consortium led by South Korean builders.
Our Shin Se-min, who is traveling with the president, files this report from Turkmenistan.
President Moon Jae-in will wrap up his three-day state visit to Turkmenistan on Thursday by visiting a site that’s a source of pride for many Koreans.
He travels to the western port city of Turkmenbashi-Kiyanly, home to a petrochemical plant built by a global consortium led by Korea’s Hyundai Engineering and LG International.
Completed late last year,… the plant is the largest petrochemical factory anywhere in Central Asia and the first such plant in Turkmenistan with the capacity to churn out 6 million tons of natural gas annually.
Hyundai Engineering says the petrochemical products from the plant could generate profits of up to 600 million U.S. dollars for the Turkmen government every year.
And geopolitically speaking,… Turkmenistan sits on the path of the South Korean president’s envisioned New Northern Policy that includes Eurasian nations and Russia.
With the South Korean leader actually leaving a footprint at the petrochemical site,... President Moon hopes to ultimately drive more business deals between the two nations.
It’s a win-win strategy given that South Korea has been losing out to big overseas orders in recent years,… while Turkmenistan’s overdependence on few neighboring countries was driven home in 2015 when Russia cut gas imports from Turkmenistan.
And with the support of their leaders,… more lucrative deals could be on the horizon for South Korea.
"During their summit, the two leaders agreed to further enhance cooperative businesses for the second and the third Kiyanly projects, built on their bilateral trust and friendship."
The two also agreed on Wednesday to upgrade their energy plant cooperation while seeking ways to expand their ties in the fields of health, medical care and ICT.
"The president, after promising the idea of a prosperous future cooperation,… will now head over to his second leg of his trip in the Central Asian region to Uzbekistan,… where the two countries already enjoy a business corporation on a more consumer-related goods. Shin Se-min, Arirang News, Ashgabad."
