▲ President Lee Jae Myung (R) and Turkmen President Serdar Berdimuhamedow (2nd from R) toast at a luncheon held at Cheong Wa Dae in Seoul on Sept. 15, 2026, to welcome Berdimuhamedow on his state visit to South Korea, in this photo provided by Lee's office. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

SEOUL, Sept. 15 (Yonhap) -- South Korea and Turkmenistan signed an investment protection agreement Tuesday, aimed at strengthening economic cooperation and providing a legal framework to protect investors from both countries, Seoul's foreign ministry said.

Foreign Minister Cho Hyun and Turkmenistan's Deputy Prime Minister Hojamyrat Geldimyradow signed the agreement on the promotion and protection of investment in Seoul on the occasion of the first South Korea-Central Asia Summit, according to the ministry.

The agreement guarantees national treatment and most-favored nation treatment for investments, and sets out requirements and compensation standards in cases of investment expropriation, as well as procedures for settling investor-state disputes.

"The agreement is expected to strengthen bilateral economic and trade cooperation, and enhance investment stability for Korean companies, expanding opportunities for them to enter promising sectors in Turkmenistan and the broader region, including new city construction, shipbuilding, and gas, chemical and fertilizer plants," the ministry said in a release.

The agreement is also expected to provide an international legal basis for protecting Korean investors in Turkmenistan, it added.

With the signing, South Korea has now concluded investment protection agreements with 102 countries, 85 of which are currently in force. South Korea now has such an agreement with all five Central Asian countries participating in the summit -- Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.

Turkmenistan is a major resource-rich country in Central Asia, with abundant natural gas resources and strong demand for large-scale infrastructure development, the ministry said.

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