South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun and his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev agreed on Monday to boost bilateral economic cooperation in energy, natural resources, construction and information technology, South Korea's Presidential Office said.

Roh and Aliyev held a summit here and signed a 10-point joint statement calling for widening practical bilateral cooperation to overall economic and commercial fields.

According to South Korea's Yonhap News Agency, the statement called for the simplification of visa issuance procedures for visitors from each other's countries, the signing of investment guarantee and dual tax avoidance accords and South Korea's support of Azerbaijan's membership of the World Trade Organization.

Aliyev arrived in Seoul on Monday for a three-day state visit. He is the first Azerbaijani head of state to visit South Korea since the two countries established diplomatic relations in 1992. Roh visited Azerbaijan last May.

In 2006, the two governments signed a memorandum of understanding to allow the Korea National Oil Corp. and other South Korean companies to participate in Azerbaijan's Inam oil well project in the central southern part of the Caspian Sea.

Source: Xinhua