The parliaments of South Korea and Turkmenistan agreed to build closer ties, proposing a new channel of dialogue and exchange.

According to information provided by the Embassy of Turkmenistan in Republic of Korea, Kim Jin-pyo, the speaker of South Korea’s National Assembly, made an official visit to Turkmenistan on July 20-21 at the invitation of his Turkmen counterpart, Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, the National leader of the Turkmen people, Chairman of Halk Maslakhaty of Turkmenistan.

In a one-on-one meeting, which lasted for over an hour, according to the South Korean speaker’s office, the leaders of the parliaments of the two countries discussed ways to develop their parliamentary relations.

“It is very meaningful for me to make my first official visit to Turkmenistan as speaker of the National Assembly of South Korea this year, as we mark 31 years since our two countries established diplomatic relations in 1992,” Kim said on his visit in a release.

The speaker thanked the Turkmen leader for offering condolences for the downpour and flooding that hit South Korea last month.

The Halk Maslakhaty’s chairman thanked Kim for South Korea’s support of relevant United Nations resolutions that recognized Turkmenistan as a permanent neutral country. South Korea was also one of the first countries to recognize Turkmenistan’s independence, he noted.

Kim’s July trip to Turkmenistan is a reciprocation of an earlier visit by who was in Seoul in November last year. The meetings that took place in respective countries, the two parliamentary leaders agreed, were important milestones in the development of bilateral parliamentary relations.

The two sides agreed that their countries, as they expand cooperation in diplomatic and other spheres, remained devoted to one another’s initiatives to ensure peace, stability and sustainable development within the framework of the UN.

In a significant step, the two discussed expanding their sphere of cooperation to a multilateral one with the formation of a South Korea-Central Asia parliamentary forum.

The first meeting of the speakers of South Korea and Central Asia is to be held on Sept. 19.

Turkmenistan proposed to host the second meeting of the forum gathering speakers of South Korea and Central Asia in Ashgabat next year, chairman of Halk Maslakhaty of Turkmenistan said.

The two also discussed creating a network of members of the parliaments of both countries to boost exchanges and strengthen cooperation. The South Korean speaker in particular stressed the importance of parliamentary dialogue as well as the role of members of parliaments in diplomacy and other areas of strategic cooperation.

Kim expressed his appreciation to the Turkmen side for supporting South Korea’s bid to hold the 2030 World Expo in Busan, which will take place in 2030.

The continuation of mutual visits of government and parliament officials, organized at the highest levels, contributes to the development of the relations between the two countries on a reliable and steady basis, including interactions among business communities, the national leader of Turkmen people said.