South Korea outlines 3 cooperation steps in development of natural resources in Central Asia

AKIPRESS.COM – “Among the three steps of our cooperation, I’d like to highlight that the most relevant and promising area is collaboration in the field of natural resources,” stated Cho Seong-jun, Chief Geophysicist of the Mineral Resources Department at the Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources, during the II Forum of Think Tanks of the Republic of Korea and Central Asia.

The first direction is the creation of a common Central Asian science and research center. Within this framework, a full cycle of issues can be studied, from mineral deposit exploration to the production of high value-added goods.

“The second step, I believe, is the joint development of a logistics strategy, specifically the transportation of mineral resources. You understand that high transportation costs are probably the most significant obstacle. In this area, we have experience working with Mongolia. We jointly developed a strategy for the development of Mongolia’s railway networks for future use in the transportation of mineral resources,” the geophysicist explained.

Cho Seong-jun added that the third step is the restoration of oil and gas fields.

“I think this might not directly concern Kyrgyzstan, as Kyrgyzstan is not a gas-producing country. But in any case, we are talking about Central Asia as a whole, so this applies to countries like Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan, where gas is produced. Gas production can further be used to produce so-called blue hydrogen, because carbon dioxide is emitted during hydrogen production. This carbon dioxide is captured and stored. It is pumped into the same tailings, meaning deposits from which oil or gas has been completely extracted,” he explained.