Lee Jae Myung hosts the first South Korea–Central Asia summit in Seoul

President Lee Jae Myung opened the first South Korea-Central Asia summit in Seoul on 16 September with the presidents of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan in the room. The six governments adopted a joint declaration, agreed to meet every two years, and set Astana as the host for 2028. Three preceding days of bilateral talks produced more than 70 agreements and memorandums on energy, mining, infrastructure, technology and investment.

Lee told the opening session that supply chains, energy, markets, technology and security now move together and that the old Silk Road habit of connecting east and west was needed again. The practical agenda was narrower. Seoul wants Central Asian minerals and fuel. The five republics want Korean plant, infrastructure and processing kit. South Korea and Kazakhstan raised their relationship to a comprehensive strategic partnership and signed papers on nuclear energy, crude oil and critical minerals. South Korea and Uzbekistan signed an understanding on a stable supply of minerals used in Korean advanced industry.

The finance ministry said the Export-Import Bank of Korea will open a $70 million credit line with Kazakhstan’s ForteBank so local buyers can import Korean machinery, equipment and consumer goods. The Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry counted 16 export contracts worth $14 million and 19 business memorandums signed around the summit. About 90 Korean firms held some 200 sales meetings with 33 Central Asian buyers under a KOTRA partnership session. SK Group chairman Chey Tae-won addressed the business gathering.

Those contract numbers are modest next to the language of the declaration. Fourteen million dollars does not reroute a minerals market. The value of the day is the calendar: a standing summit, a 2028 date, and a stack of sector papers that ministries can be asked to implement. China already dominates much of Central Asian trade and infrastructure. Russia still owns security habits in the region. South Korea is offering a third industrial partner that does not come with the same political weight. Whether that offer turns into mines and plants depends on the follow-up that the finance ministry promised: convert the understandings into orders.

Seoul and Bishkek also announced a sister-city agreement between their mayors on the sidelines. That is ceremonial. The minerals memorandum with Tashkent is not. If it produces offtake rather than another framework, the inaugural summit will have done the job Lee described. If it does not, 2028 in Astana will open with the same speech about the Silk Road.