Turkmenistan and South Korea agreed to expand cooperation in the field of shipbuilding. This was discussed in the Korean city of Busan, where negotiations were held between representatives of the Türkmendeňizderýaýollary agency (the agency of sea and river transport of Turkmenistan) and Komeri (Korea marine equipment research Institute) - one of the leading specialized research institutes in Korea for the development of technologies for marine equipment, logistics and certification, according to Orient.tm.
The meeting was held at the end of January and was organized within the framework of the Memorandum of Understanding signed between the Korean KOMERI and the Turkmen shipbuilding and repair plant OJSC "Balkan", according to a press release from the Maritime and River Transport Agency.
The shipbuilding industry of Turkmenistan currently operates on the basis of the repair shipyard of the Balkan State Shipbuilding Plant. The Turkmen government plans to expand and strengthen the capacity of the Balkan shipyards, where modern dry cargo ships, dredgers, container ships and other types of ships for the national merchant fleet will be built in the future.
“To strengthen the water logistics industry, the government of Turkmenistan needs ships that will navigate the Caspian Sea and rivers that connect with Russia. We want to create our own shipbuilding industry and are interested in buying specialized Korean equipment in this area. This will make it possible to produce modern ships of domestic production,” representatives of the Maritime and River Transport Agency said during the meeting.
The visit also included a study tour of the Turkmen delegation to the Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME) shipyard, which is part of the Big Three shipbuilders of South Korea and ranks second in the world ranking after Hyundai Heavy Industries. DSME is famous for the production of various types of ships, bulk carriers, ferries, container ships and tankers.
Representatives of the Movena consulting company also took part in the Turkmen-Korean talks. Its experts, having studied the information on the state of affairs at the Balkan shipyard, declared their readiness to participate in the project of launching shipbuilding in Turkmenistan and managing the factory shipyard.
The parties also agreed to launch a program to train Turkmen specialists in the shipbuilding industry and improve the production of the plant.
CentralasianLIGHT.org
February 2, 2023