Moon agrees on expanded ties with Kazakhstan
President Moon Jae-in, left, talks with Kazakhstan President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev at the start of their summit held in the presidential office of the Central Asian country, Monday afternoon (KST). Yonhap
By Kim Yoo-chul
President Moon Jae-in agreed with Kazakhstan President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev to boost economic cooperation in areas of advanced agricultural and water purification technology, Cheong Wa Dae said in a statement, Monday.
As the last destination of his trip to three Central Asian nations, President Moon arrived in Nur-Sultan, the country's capital formerly known as Astana, Sunday evening.
At a summit, the leaders discussed ways to further improve bilateral ties in other areas in which the two countries have mutual interests. This is in accordance with President Moon's signature New Northern Policy, which aims to boost ties with Central Asian and European countries.
Kazakhstan is South Korea's largest trade partner in Central Asia, with bilateral trade reaching $2.2 billion last year, said the statement.
After the summit, Moon held a separate meeting with the outgoing Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev, who still has a significant political influence in the former Soviet-bloc country, and shared Kazakhstan's denuclearization experience.
“President Moon told Nazarbayev that Kazakhstan's decision to voluntarily dismantle its nuclear weapons will help the ongoing inter-Korean peace process. How the decision contributed to bringing peace in Central Asia and helped the country rise as one of the leading economies in the region were additional issues discussed at the meeting,” a Cheong Wa Dae official said.
The collapse of the Soviet Union left Kazakhstan with its own nuclear arsenal, but citizens in the country rallied in the then-capital of Almaty in 1989 against nuclear weapons. In return for financial assistance from the international community led by the United States, the Central Asian country completely abandoned its nuclear arsenal.
President Moon will return home Tuesday night after wrapping up his eight-day tour that earlier took him to Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.