South Korea and Uzbekistan held a business forum in Seoul on Tuesday to discuss ways to expand bilateral economic and corporate cooperation.

The forum, jointly hosted by the two government and state-run trade promotion agencies, was attended by about 200 businesspeople and high-ranking government officials of the two countries, including Deputy Prime Minister Choi Kyung-hwan and his Uzbek counterpart, Rustam Azimov.

The gathering was held ahead of Uzbek President Islam Karimov's visit to Seoul scheduled for this week. He is to meet South Korean President Park Geun-hye on Thursday.

Delivering a speech at the gathering, Choi said that after establishing formal diplomatic relations in 1992, Uzbekistan has become South Korea's No. 1 trading partner in Central Asia, with two-way trade hitting $2 billion and more than 60 local firms investing $600 million in the country so far.

In 1992, trade stood at just $3.5 million with investment hovering around $15 million.

He stressed that Seoul is confident that more can be done to expand cooperation and pledged to work together to build up Uzbekistan's infrastructure.

"South Korea wants to strengthen ties by making full use of its economic development cooperation fund, official development assistance and knowledge-sharing programs," said Cho, who doubles as finance minister.

Choi added that bilateral cooperation can be expanded from gas and chemicals to medicine, information communication and technology, water resource management and national defense. He said there is even potential for tie-ups in the food, construction materials and electronics sectors.

He also praised front-line businessmen for playing a leading role in promoting growth and said that South Korea will do its utmost to listen to recommendations made by these people.

During the forum, Uzbek businesspeople and officials explained their outlooks for both countries' economic tie-up, while proposing ways to cooperate in fields and areas of mutual concern.

On the South Korean side, large companies, including Samsung Electronics Co. and Korean Air Lines Co., shared their success stories for business in Uzbekistan along with possible future projects that the two countries could work on together.

Companies from both countries also exchanged memoranda of understanding on five business cooperation projects. (Yonhap)