As well as within the framework of the state visit of the President of the Republic of Korea Moon Jae-in to the Republic of Uzbekistan, a meeting with representatives of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups of the Republic of Korea was held at the Ministry of Innovative Development of the Republic of Uzbekistan. During the reception, a number of promising areas in establishing and deepening bilateral cooperation were discussed.

It was noted that in Uzbekistan, the Korean experience of developing a startup system will be applied for the entry of the Republic of Uzbekistan into the top 50 countries in the world according to the Global Innovation Index by 2030.

The parties also agreed to organize the participation of Uzbekistan representatives of small and medium-sized enterprises in K-Startup Grand Challenge in November this year, where participants will have the opportunity to consult with the best Korean companies, participate in workshops, trainings, conferences, networking events, cooperation with individual mentors. The winners of the challenge from Uzbekistan during the year will be provided with financial support for the launch of their business projects.

According to the Ministry of Innovative Development of the Republic of Uzbekistan, the conclusion of the Memorandum of Understanding will provide an opportunity to establish cooperation in exchanging experience on supporting and developing small and medium-sized innovative entrepreneurship, promoting partnership projects, inter-agency cooperation and cooperation between enterprises in both countries, encouraging bilateral cooperation programs aimed at developing business infrastructure, innovation ecosystem and related services, including incubators, clusters and business angels, in the area of improving the integration of science, education, small and medium-sized entrepreneurship, as well as the partnership between the Gyeonggi Center for Creative Economy & Innovation and Yashnabad Innovative Technopark.