Korea, Turkmenistan sign $4 bn gas processing deals

South Korean leader Park Geun-Hye on Friday oversaw the signing of $4 billion in agreements to build natural gas-processing plants in the isolated energy-rich Central Asian nation of Turkmenistan.
Park and her host Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov presided over the inking of a number of agreements including a preliminary deal between state gas company Turkmengaz and South Korea's LG and Hyundai to build gas-processing plants.
"Today we've signed two agreements to implement two major projects worth $4 billion dollars," said the Turkmen leader.
Park -- who was on her first visit to Turkmenistan as part of a Central Asia tour -- said the two countries complemented each other economically.
"You have energy resources and we are experienced in economic development and high-tech," Park said in translated remarks. "If we combine these advantages then this will create a basis for successful, mutually-beneficial cooperation."
The ex-Soviet hermit state of Turkmenistan sits on the world's fourth-largest natural gas reserves and also boasts vast oil deposits. 
But the country remains one of the world's most isolated nations almost two-and-a-half decades after the collapse of the USSR and its decision making is opaque.
South Korean businesses are already present in Turkmenistan, having implemented nine projects worth $5.5 billion, said Berdymukhammedov