What’s New
Speaker discusses practical cooperation and Busan’s Expo bid in Turkmenistan and the Philippines
- Sep 25, 2023
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Speaker Kim Jin-pyo discusses practical cooperation
and Busan’s Expo bid in Turkmenistan and the Philippines
- Speaker Kim agrees to expand desert-oriented defense cooperation with Turkmenistan, and expands the Philippines’
understanding of Korea’s capabilities in submarine construction
- Suggests high value-added raw materials processing and Korean firms’ forays into related projects to senior leaders of
Turkmenistan and the Philippines
- Proposes small modular reactor for the Philippines and urges relaunch of the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant
- Requests cooperation on Korean participation in large infrastructure projects in the Philippines
- Speaker Kim and his Philippine counterpart agree to sign a free trade agreement
- Garners support for Busan’s bid to host World Expo 2030, ahead of final voting at the Bureau International des Expositions (BIE)
general assembly in November
- Speaker Kim is awarded the Order of Turkmenistan Bitaraplyk from the Chairman of the People’s Council and delivers a speech
at the country’s parliament
- Philippine House of the Representatives adopts a resolution on solidarity with the Republic of Korea to commemorate the
70th anniversary of the Korean Armistice Agreement
The Republic of Korea’s National Assembly Speaker Kim Jin-pyo successfully completed a visit to Turkmenistan and the Philippines from July 19 to 26, during which he met with senior leaders including Turkmenistan’s Chairman of the People’s Council, President, and Chairperson of the Assembly, and the Philippines’ Vice President, Speaker of the House of Representatives, and President of the Senate. In the two countries, leaders agreed to expand practical cooperation in sectors such as nuclear power, infrastructure, defense, and mining.
Speaker Kim visited Turkmenistan from July 19 to 22, marking the first such visit by a Korean parliamentary leader, in celebration of 30 years of diplomatic ties and a 15-year-long reciprocal cooperation partnership. He held a series of meetings with the Chairman of the People’s Council Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow and President Serdar Berdimuhamedow. He then traveled to the Philippines from July 23 to 26 at the invitation of Speaker of the House of Representatives Martin Romualdez and met with the Speaker, Vice President Sara Duterte, and President of the Senate Juan Miguel Zubiri. Kim’s visit marked the first to the archipelago nation by a National Assembly Speaker in eight years.
During the visit, Korean companies in the defense, energy, and construction sectors agreed to expand cooperation in Turkmenistan and the Philippines. In the defense sector, collaboration will focus on special vehicles for Turkmenistan, which is a largely arid desert nation, while cooperation with the Philippines will expand beyond naval and air force support to include armies. Kim also sought to deepen the Philippines’ understanding of Korea’s capabilities in building submarines.
Addressing the export of low value-added raw materials such as natural gas from Turkmenistan and nickel and copper from the Philippines, Speaker Kim asked the two nations’ leaders to support Korean firms’ forays into the value-adding business through raw materials processing. His suggestion came after Turkmenistan expressed hopes for Korean investment in the transport of LNG processed from natural gases and the production of petrochemicals such as polyethylene and polypropylene, while the Philippines expressed interest in the nickel and copper processing business.
Across the over 7,000 islands of the Philippines, where efficiency of power generation, transmission and distribution facilities is low, small modular reactors are optimal for the mining and manufacturing sectors, which consume large amounts of energy, Kim underscored, adding that they also represent a legitimate response to climate change. He suggested expanding cooperation on such reactors with the Republic of Korea given its technical expertise in the field and conveyed hopes for the re-launch of the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant following agreement between the Philippine authorities and Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Co. (KHNP).
Kim then asked that Philippine leaders show interest in and support for the participation of Korean companies in the Philippines’ large-scale infrastructure projects, considering that Korean firms are trusted builders there with abundant expertise and experience. In a meeting with the Speaker of the House of Representatives Martin Romualdez, he expressed the will to sign a bilateral free trade agreement which would provide an institutional framework for an increase in trade and investment between the two Asian countries.
In addition, Speaker Kim successfully garnered support from Turkmenistan and the Philippines for Busan’s hosting of World Expo 2030, raising expectations for good results at the Bureau International des Expositions (BIE) general assembly in November, where voting on the event’s host city will take place. Kim expressed his gratitude for Turkmenistan’s support, a local daily journal reported, and Philippine Vice President Duterte acknowledged Korea’s capabilities in hosting an international event and pledged ongoing attention to the matter.
The Korean parliamentary leader was awarded the Order of Turkmenistan Bitaraplyk from Chairman of the People’s Council Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow for his services in developing political, diplomatic, trade, economic, cultural, and humanitarian relations between the two countries. In his parliamentary speech at the request of Speaker Gulmanowa, Kim suggested a further development of parliamentary diplomacy and expanded exchanges in the areas of natural gas, construction, medical services, water resources, fabrics, and reforestation.
Speaker Kim played a leading role in communicating with high-ranking Philippine officials on behalf of Korean businesses at home and those in the Philippines. He conveyed to the Vice President and President of the Senate the suggestions of overseas Koreans and Korean business leaders for recruiting talented Filipinos to Korea and expanding cooperation on nuclear power, as well as concerns about a tax hike on sweetened beverages. In response to Speaker Romualdez’s request for collaboration on mining, Kim said he would meet with leaders of the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry and related companies as part of efforts to foster parliamentary diplomacy as a platform for the advancement of national interests.
On July 24, the Philippine House of Representatives unanimously adopted a resolution on solidarity with the Republic of Korea to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Korean Armistice Agreement, conveying its interest and support for Speaker Kim’s visit to the country.
Speaker Kim was accompanied on his latest visit by National Assembly members Lee Dal-gon (President of the Korea-Turkmenistan Parliamentary Friendship Group) from the People Power Party and Kim Byung-kee and Eoh Kiy-ku from the Democratic Party of Korea; Senior Secretary for Public Relations Kim Jae-jun; Ambassador Jeong Woon-jin; and Director General of the International Affairs and Protocol Bureau Hwang Seung-gi.
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- press release_230726_turkmenistan and philippines.docx
