Pres. Park to tour three Central Asian countries next week

President Park will visit Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan from Monday through Saturday next week. She will embark on her first diplomatic visits since the ferry Sewol disaster. Following her public statement on the ferry tragedy on May 19, she visited the United Arab Emirates on a short three-day trip.

President Park will have a summit meeting with Uzbekistan President Islam Karimov on next Tuesday to negotiate smooth operation of economic cooperation projects including Surgil gas project and Talimarjan thermal power plant. While staying in Tashkent, the capital city, she will meet with a group of ethnic Korean representatives. On the next day, she will fly to Samarkand, Kazakhstan, the center of "Silk Road" that connects China to Kazakhstan.

Park will have a summit meeting on next Thursday with Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev. The two leaders will discuss ways to enhance bilateral relations regarding various projects, such as Balkhash coal-fired thermal power plant, Atyrau petrochemical plant and Zhambyl mine exploration. Kazakhstan is the foothold country for Korean companies in their Eurasia expansion with some 250 companies operating in Central Asia.

President Park will meet Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov on next Friday. Her visit to the country is the first as Korea`s head of state.