Korean Herald
December 10

Based on many years of economic cooperation, Korea enjoys an intimate relationship with Uzbekistan. Today, Korea is the Central Asian country's biggest foreign investor and trade partner, and naturally, Korean-invested companies there also play a significant role in the country's economy.

In recent years, the two countries have especially benefited from each other by way of "third-party trade," in which Uzbekistan makes goods using its ample natural resources while Korean companies help sell them to a third country using its global-wide information, telecommunications and transaction networks.

There is also an emotional side to the relationship. The two countries are bound by the presence of 250,000 ethnic Koreans in Uzbekistan, a legacy of the Stalinist regime when Uzbekistan was part of the Soviet Union.

At the center of increasingly solid ties between the two countries is Lee Tae-yong, president and CEO of Daewoo International Corp., who has spearheaded business in Uzbekistan and helped position the trading company as a major player in Uzbekistan's economy.

Since 2002, Daewoo International, which has more than three decades of international marketing expertise, has raised $70 million in trading profits involving Uzbekistan, $62 million of which was through third-party trade.

Daewoo International also set up two companies in Uzbekistan - Daewoo Textile Co., Ltd. and Daewoo Unitel Co. - both of which have the biggest market shares in respective industries.

Since 1998, Daewoo International has been closely involved with Uzbekistan's cotton industry, selling as much as $44 million worth of cotton last year by way of third-party trade. The company explained that 70 percent of the product goes to the Western European market.

Daewoo Textile, meanwhile, has been producing cotton yarn, cotton fabric and double yarn since its establishment in June 1997, and annual exports to various parts of the world, including Korea and Japan, top $32 million.

Daewoo Unitel is another success story. Although a latecomer that began doing business in October 1997, the company rose to the number one position among Uzbekistan's six telecom companies last year with 62,000 subscribers accounting for a 33.3-percent market share.

For his unparalleled contribution to strengthening bilateral relations between Uzbekistan and Korea, Lee was awarded a Ph.D. from the Tashkent State Institute of Oriental Studies, a company official noted.

Daewoo International has miraculously pulled through from the hardships that began when its parent group was dismantled in the aftermath of the 1997 Asian financial crisis. It has just about graduated from a debt workout program that began four years ago and expects to transform itself into a top-tier general trading company by 2007 with annual sales of 7.5 trillion won and net profit of 175 billion won.

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