Korea, Uzbekistan Agree on Resource Development

On the second leg of his Central Asia tour, President Lee Myung-bak met with his Uzbek counterpart Islam Karimov in Tashkent on Tuesday. They agreed to develop natural resources worth US$4.16 billion.

The agreement envisages developing the Surgil gas field near the Aral Sea, which has a deposit of 130 billion cubic meters of natural gas -- equivalent to 96 million tons of liquefied natural gas or 830 million barrels of crude oil -- and building a gas and chemicals plant.

Lee leaves Uzbekistan for Kazakhstan on Wednesday.