KTNET Plus

(Caption: CEO Young-hwan Cha (second from the right in the back row), Ja-yeol Koo, president of the KITA (third from the left in the front row), President Mirziyoev, and Minister Seung-wook Moon)

Young-hwan Cha, CEO of KTNET, attended the Korea-Uzbekistan business roundtable event hosted by the KITA at Lotte Hotel in Sogong-dong on the afternoon of December 17 (Friday), and agreed with the Uzbekistan government to cooperate on the rapid digital transformation of Uzbekistan’s trade business.

At the event, Uzbekistan President Shavkat MIRZIYOYEV, who made a state visit to Korea from December 16 to 18, Chairperson Ja-yeol Koo of KITA, CEO Young-hwan Cha, President In-yong Lee of Samsung Electronics, President Kyung-il Park of SK Eco Plant, and Chairperson Ho-gap Kang of the Federation of Medium-Sized Businesses, and businessmen entering the Uzbekistan market, and delegations from the two governments including the Minister Seung-wook Moon of the Ministry of Trade, Industry, & Energy (hereafter referred to as the “MOTIE”) and Sardor Umurzakov, Deputy Prime Minister of Economy & Minister of Investment and Foreign Trade of Uzbekistan, were in attendance.

The roundtable event was prepared to expand investment between the two countries and improve the business environment for Korean companies in Uzbekistan. President Mirziyoyev visited Korea again, despite the COVID-19 pandemic, four years after his first visit to Korea in November 2017, right after his inauguration, and personally listened to the current business issues and difficulties of major Korean companies participating in various fields of economic cooperation between the two countries, while practical results, such as drawing consensus on proposals & improvements and making decisions on the spot, were ascertained.

(Caption: Panoramic view of Korea-Uzbekistan business round table event)

Based on the ‘E-Trade Cooperation MOU’ that was signed between the Minister of MOTIE and the Minister of Investment and Foreign Trade of Uzbekistan in the presence of the leaders of the two countries during President Mirziyoev’s first visit to Korea in 2017, KTNET has been building the ‘public e-commerce platform (Public e-Marketplace)’, which is the ‘First Stage Project of Uzbekistan’s National Electronic Trade Platform’ from 2019.

CEO Young-hwan Cha said, “Uzbekistan’s national e-trade platform will contribute to boosting the exports of Uzbekistan’s small and medium-sized enterprises and increasing the trade volume between the two countries,” further proposing that “If the Korea-Uzbekistan Trade Agreement (STEP: Sustainable Trade & Economic Partnership), which began negotiations on January 28 of this year, is concluded, trade volume between the two countries is expected to increase significantly. In preparation for this, Uzbekistan’s state-led full digitalization of trade procedures is necessary.”

In response, President Mirziyoyev affirmed CEO Cha’s explanation that the completion of transparent and prompt trade procedures through the e-trade system in Korea has contributed to enhancing the competitiveness of companies, and requested KTNET to continue to cooperate with the digital transformation of Uzbekistan’s trade business.