□ The Export-Import Bank of Korea (www.koreaexim.go.kr, Chairman Bang Moon-kyu, “Korea Eximbank") announced on December 19 that it has agreed to strengthen bilateral economic cooperation with Uzbekistan, one of the key regional partners for the Korean government in the New Northern Policy, through the Economic Cooperation Promotion Facility(EDPF).
○ The Economic Development Promotion Facility(EDPF) is a funding program introduced by Korea Eximbank in 2016, characterized by combining of aid and commercial financing needed to overcome the limitations of current aid programs in promoting large-scale projects.
□ Chairman Bang Moon-kyu signed a memorandum of understanding(MOU) with Uzbek Deputy Prime Minister for Investment and Foreign Cooperation and Minister of Investment and Foreign Trade Sardor Umurzakov at the Blue House on December 17.
○ The signing ceremony was observed by President Moon Jae-in and President Shavkat Mirziyoyev of Uzbekistan who visited Korea a day earlier.
○ Under the MOU, the two governments plan to strengthen cooperation in sectors with great growth potential such as building infrastructures for transportation, energy, water treatment and industrial complexes including Uzbek government-led public projects and public-private cooperation projects (PPP) as well as IT, health and medical services.
□ “The MOU is the final piece in establishing the foundation for economic cooperation between Korea and Uzbekistan, a key country in the new northern policy,” Chairman Bang said. "As Uzbekistan is actively fostering renewable energy generation projects such as solar and wind power in the form of public-private cooperation projects, it is expected that Korean companies will continue to have more opportunities to enter the market in the future," he added.
□ Prior to this, Chairman Bang signed a loan agreement with Prime Minister Umurzakov to provide $74 million under the bank’s aid program(EDCF) for the "Uzbek Regional Medical Institution Medical Equipment Supply Project" on December 15.
○ Medical infrastructure in Uzbekistan is poor except in the capital city Tashkent, and moreover, the demand for medical services has significantly increased recently amid the COVID-19 crisis.
○ If modern medical equipment is supplied to medical institutions in 14 regions in Uzbekistan with EDCF funds and local communities benefit from quality medical services, this will in turn translate to stronger cooperation in the health and medical sectors between the two countries.
□ To date, Korea Eximbank has provided $10.1 billion in total to Uzbekistan, $9.5 billion in bank finance and $6.3 billion in EDCF.
