Page 224 - 2020 Defence White Paper

(2+2) Meeting, and discussed in depth exchanges and cooperation in various fields
including combined exercises, military education, PKOs, and military medicine and
disaster relief cooperation. In particular, during the ROK Defense Minister’s visit
to India, the two sides exchanged the "roadmap for defense industry cooperation",
which will serve as the basis for practical defense industry cooperation between
the two countries, and established a practical cooperative relationship for joint
production, development and export.

Central Asia Central Asia is the key region of Eurasia that connects Asia,
Europe, and Africa, and has high potential for future economic
development based on its abundant resources. Considering Central Asia to be a
major partner in the New Northern Policy (NNP), the ROK government launched the
"Presidential Committee on Northern Economic Cooperation" in 2017 and signed a
Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU).
The MND has been actively supporting the ROK’s NNP in the defense domain by
inviting Central Asian countries to the SDD, thereby strengthening communication
and vitalizing educational exchanges and defense industry cooperation among
the countries. In particular, since establishing the ROK-Central Asia Plus Defense
Vice-Ministerial Talks, which is a defense vice-ministerial consultative meeting
of the five Central Asian countries and Mongolia, on the occasion of SDD 2018,
the MND has continued discussions on security cooperation with Central Asia.
In the 2nd Talks held the following year, high-ranking officials, including the
Deputy Minister of Defense of Uzbekistan, the Deputy Chief of the General Staff

of Kazakhstan, the Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of
Kyrgyzstan, and the Kyrgyz Ambassador to Korea participated and discussed ways
to strengthen cooperation through diplomatic, security, and economic channels and
to share information on the regional security situation. The countries also agreed to
continuously develop the platforms for defense exchanges and cooperation.
Uzbekistan is a key country in the NNP. With President Moon’s visit to Uzbekistan
in 2019, the relationship between the two countries was upgraded from "strategic
partnership" to "special strategic partnership". And as seen through the participation
of the Uzbekistan Deputy Minister of Defense at the SDD and hosting of defense
policy talks, the ROK is continuously discussing ways to improve cooperation with
Uzbekistan. Since 2017, active exchanges have taken place in the field of education
such as dispatching instructors from the Joint Forces Military University (JFMU) to
the Academy of the Armed Forces of Uzbekistan to share knowledge and experience
in the field of military science including tactics, and training the Uzbekistan

222 2020 Defense White Paper