Last week it became known that Turkmenistan was holding a number of important business events. Particularly noteworthy are the business forums in Germany and the UK, the leading economies of Europe. An important event was the signing of a trade and economic partnership agreement with South Korea. This country has advanced technologies and can become a valuable partner of Turkmenistan in modernizing industry and infrastructure. In general, there are promising trends in expanding Turkmenistan’s economic ties with key partners. For example, the creation of a border trade zone with Kazakhstan, which will open up good prospects for increasing regional trade. Announcements of upcoming business events In November, Ashgabat will host the 6th meeting of the intergovernmental Turkmen-Chinese cooperation committee. On November 20, a Turkmen-German business forum will be held in Berlin. On November 22-23, the investment forum “Turkmenistan – Investments in Development” will be held in London. At the beginning of 2024, a Turkmen business delegation will visit Italy in order to get acquainted and exchange experience with Italian companies in various fields of production. Trade Turkmenistan and the Republic of Korea signed an Agreement on trade and economic cooperation between the governments of the two countries. The document was signed by the Minister of Trade and Foreign Economic Relations of Turkmenistan Begench Gochmollayev and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Korea Park Jin. Ashgabat and Astana will study the possibility of creating a cross-border trade center on the border of the Balkan velayat of Turkmenistan and the Mangystau region of Kazakhstan, as well as the mutual opening of trading houses to increase mutual trade turnover to 1 billion US dollars. Construction and industry A branch of the Korean construction company Daewoo Engineering & Construction has opened in Ashgabat, which is engaged in the construction of an ammonia-urea plant and an enterprise for the production of phosphate fertilizers in Turkmenistan under a contract with the State Concern “Turkmenhimiya”. Transport Turkmenbashy International Seaport presented its capabilities at the 19th International Exhibition “Transport and Logistics – TransLogistica Uzbekistan 2023”. During the exhibition, negotiations were held with a number of large transport and logistics companies, such as MSC Tashkent LLC, FESCO, MEDLOG GEORGIA LLC, Albayrak, Central Asia Trans, Azlogista, TRANSASIA Logistics, PRIME Shipping & Transportation. A delegate from the Korea National Railway company introduced participants to the “Transport and Logistics” session of the 16th Cooperation Forum “Central Asia – Republic of Korea” in Ashgabat about the opportunities for electrification of railways in Turkmenistan and Central Asia. Particular emphasis was placed on the creation of electrified urban railway lines. Agriculture The sowing of winter wheat has been completed in Turkmenistan. In total, 690 thousand hectares of land are sown with valuable crops throughout the country. At present time, wheat fields in the velayats are maintained in accordance with agricultural technology standards. Measures are also being taken to collect the grown cotton crop, harvest rice in Dashoguz and Lebap velayats and collect sugar beets in Mary velayat.