Enter East Asian Tiger: South Korea to boost its economic footprint in Central Asia
South Korea convened a first-ever summit with all five Central Asian leaders in Seoul on September 16, establishing a cooperation framework for the coming decades. The meeting produced bilateral deals, including $19 billion with Kazakhstan and potential $12 billion with Uzbekistan, and commitments on supply chains, mining, and AI/IT. South Korea became the sixth state to hold such a C5+1 summit in the past 18 months.
Why it matters: This deepens the geoeconomic competition for Central Asia's supply chains and critical minerals.