nCa Commentary
The visit of Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, the Chairman of the Peoples Council of Turkmenistan, has upgraded the already rich and robust partnership between Turkmenistan and Korea.
Gubanguly Berdimuhamedov, whose official title is Arkadag, during his years as the president of Turkmenistan from 2007 to 2022 planned and built versatile partnership with a number of countries including Korea.
His current visit to Korea, and his meetings with several top officials including President Yoon Suk Yeol, have been fruitful.
Energy, infrastructure, and urban transportation are three areas where Korean companies have contributed greatly. The outcomes of the visit of Arkadag mark the start of the next phase in the same direction.
With more than USD 11 billion worth of 13 major projects in the portfolio, the Korean companies are well placed to continue the interaction at faster pace.
Quite naturally, the joint business forum held during the visit of Arkadag led to the signing of several documents:
- Memorandum of Understanding between the Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs of Turkmenistan and the Korean International Trade Association;
- Memorandum of Understanding between the State Border Service of Turkmenistan and Hyundai Corporation;
- Memorandum of Understanding between the agency “Turkmenawtoulaglary” (Turkmen motor transport) and Hyundai Corporation on expanding trade, economic, scientific and technical cooperation;
- Memorandum of Understanding between the State Water Management Committee of Turkmenistan and Hyundai Corporation;
- Memorandum of Understanding between the Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs of Turkmenistan and Hyundai Engineering on drafting, providing equipment and building an ammonia and urea production plant in the Balkan province;
- Memorandum of Understanding and Confidentiality Agreement between the State Concern “Türkmenhimiýa” and the company “Daewoo Engineering & Construction”.
Some details of the commitments made during the visit are available through the Korean media.
Hyundai Engineering will build ‘Turkmenistan Ammonia Urea Fertilizer’ in the Balkan region with total value of USD 1.4 billion. The annual production capacity will be 1.155 million tons of urea fertilizer and 665000 tons of synthetic ammonia.
The Korea IT Times reports that Hyundai Engineering started with a $1.4 billion project in Turkmenistan in 2009, and has carried out very large projects such as a $530 million oil refinery in 2012, a $240 million crude oil processing plant in 2014 and a $3.44 billion ethane crackers and PE/PP production facility plants.
Daewoo will build two fertilizer plants. The phosphate fertilizer plant, to be built in Turkmenabat, will have the annual capacity of 300000 tons and the ammonia urea fertilizer in Balkan will have the same capacity as the Hyundai Engineering project. This is reported by the Korea Economic Times Global Edition.
With these projects, Turkmenistan is poised to become regional exporter of fertilizers. Apart from being profitable, this will be helpful in bolstering food security in the region.
The meeting of Arkadag with Christopher Koo, the president of the KITA (Korean International Trade Association) touched on the cooperation in transport and logistics. The utilization of the capacity of the present and planned corridors and the Turkmenbashy Port were discussed.
The enhancement in the production capacity of exportable items such as fertilizers and the ways and means to transport them efficiently and economically to the export markets go hand in hand.
The idea is based on the holistic approach that Turkmenistan follows. /// nCa, 1 December 2022