Kazakhstan-South Korea Business Council gathers in Astana

At the session, Kazakhstan's Vice Minister for Investment and Development Yerlan Khairov noted that inflow of foreign direct investment from South Korea to Kazakhstan has amounted to $4 billion over the past 12 years.

"Two-way trade has exceeded $360 million and increased for 27% in January-May 2017. There are over 450 Kazakh-Korean joint ventures in various spheres. Kazakhstan and South Korea are planning to implement up to 27 projects worth $2.6 billion," Vice Minister Khairov said at the session.

According to Mr Khairov, everything is in place to step up two-way trade and open joint ventures. Kazakhstan and South Korea enjoy visa-free travel as well as direct air communication between Astana, Almaty and Seoul.

South Korean Ambassador to Kazakhstan Kim Dae-sik, in turn, called the council an important step towards development of bilateral relations.

The South Korean diplomat reminded that Astana hosts the International specialized exhibition EXPO-2017 themed Future Energy. Ambassador Kim Dae-sik who happens to be the Commissioner of the South Korean Pavilion at EXPO said he had attended a lot of exciting events over the past three months.

He also emphasized that President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev is very interested in cooperation with South Korea.

The Kazakhstan-South Korea Business Council was launched in 2012 to develop economic cooperation between the two nations.