OREANDA-NEWS. April 16, 2009. President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov received Young-won Kang, President and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Korea National Oil Corporation (KNOC) and Vice Minister of Knowledge Economy of the Republic of Korea Kim Jung-gwan.

The guests conveyed the heartfelt greetings of President of the Republic of Korea Lee Myung-bak to the Turkmen leader and the best wishes to the people of Turkmenistan.

Greeting the representatives of the friendly country Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov expressed the best wishes to the Korean leader and said that he had the cordial recollections of his visit to the Republic of Korea last November. Focusing with satisfaction on noticeably increased dynamics of the bilateral relations the Turkmen leader expressed belief that this constructive dialogue would be maintained and filled with a new content during the coming visit of President Lee Myung-bak to Turkmenistan.

In this context the sides exchanged views on the priority fields of cooperation, particularly the fuel and energy sector, on a basis of its profound potential and the vast opportunities of effective bilateral collaboration. The guests noted that the business circles in South Korea were keenly interested in establishing close business contact with Turkmenistan that pursued the open door policy of wide international cooperation. In this regard Mr. Young-won Kang briefed Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov on the activity and expertise of the Korea National Oil Corporation ranking among the world’s largest energy companies. The guest said that KNOC stood ready to collaborate in the exceptionally promising projects initiated by the President of Turkmenistan to diversify development of Turkmenistan’s fuel and energy sector as well as in other fields.

Welcoming the KNOC’s intention and emphasizing that Turkmenistan was interested in attracting advanced technologies and state-of-the-art equipment that the Republic of Korea could offer the Turkmen leader briefed the guests on the priority trends in of Turkmenistan’s social and economic development and focused on the most important national programmes. The President said that Turkmenistan looked forward to cooperating with Korean partners under these programmes.

In conclusion the President and his guests expressed belief that Turkmen-Korean cooperation would be successfully maintained to increase the welfare of two peoples.

Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Korea to Turkmenistan Kim Chung Yul attended the meeting.