Kazakhstan sought to increase investment by South Korean firms in its country Thursday, also urging the firms' participation in major development projects in the central American nation.

The call came at a joint business forum here, involving some 400 officials and business leaders from the Federation of Korean Industries and Kazakhstan's state-run trade and investment agency, the Kaznex Invest.

"At the forum, Kazakhstan introduced President (Nursultan) Nazarbayev's Nurly Zhol program and the country's efforts to privatize public firms, while urging South Korean firms to take part in the 2017 Astana Expo," the FKI said in a press release.

Nurly Zhol is Kazakhstan's economic stimulus plan, estimated to be worth US$9 billion, that seeks to develop and modernize the country's social infrastructure, including roads, railways, IT infrastructure and education services. The Kazakh president was also in Seoul for a summit with his South Korean counterpart Park Geun-hye.

"The Kazakh side also introduced project financing programs by the country's development bank," the FKI said.

FKI officials noted South Korean firms might offer just what Kazakhstan needs.

"South Korea possesses world-class technologies in key areas of development from electronics, construction and industrial plants to nuclear power plants, as well as its own experience of development, which make it Kazakhstan's best working partner in the latter's pursuit of development," Shin Sang-ho, head of the Korea-Kazakhstan business committee, told the meeting, according to the FKI. (Yonhap)