UZBEKISTANA

long string of firsts and rare achievements

Ambassador Fen of Uzbekistan
merits Guinness Book recording

Ambassador Vitali V. Fen of the Republic of Uzbekistan in Seoul has a long string of firsts and rare examples.

Longest foreign ambassador in Korea: He served 18 years in Korea as the mission chief of the Republic of Uzbekistan in the Republic of Korea, which is the longest for any foreign ambassadors in Korea.

First ethnic Korean ambassador: Ambassador Fen was the first ethnic Korean to be appointed to Korea as the ambassador of a foreign country. Ambassador Sung Kim of the United States in Korea is the second Korean descent to be appointed to Korea.

First envoy to be given a minister’s farewell party: Ambassador Fen was the first foreign envoy to be honored with a farewell party hosted by the minister of foreign affairs.

First foreign ambassador to see succession of five Presidents: Fen was the first foreign envoy to see the succession of five Presidents, namely Kim Young-sam, Kim Dae-jung, Roh Moo-hyun, Lee Myung-bak and Park Geun-hye.

First ambassador to achieve 12 summit meetings: During his 18-year tour of duty in Korea, Ambassador Fen successfully arranged the exchange of visits by the Heads of State of the two countries. Korean Presidents visited Uzbekistan five times all together and Uzbek President visited Korea seven times.

Other outstanding achievements of Ambassador Fen during his 18-year tenure in Korea:-
Bilateral trade jumped by 100 times from about US$200 million to some US$20 billion.
Korean investments in Uzbekistan increased by 20 times from US$500 million to US$10 billion.

Korean tourists to Uzbekistan increased by 20 times from 1,000 persons to 20,000 persons.

Uzbek residents in Korea grew by 36 times from 1,000 persons to 36,000 persons.

Many VIPs saw him off at the airport: In a rare example for a departing ambassador, there were many Korean and foreign VIPs seeing Ambassador Fen off at the VIP Room at the airport. Among them where Director General Ha Tae-yuk of the European Affairs Bureau of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Natallia Jhylevich of Belarus former Korean Ambassador to Uzbekistan Suh Kun-i, Publisher-Chairman Lee Kyung-sik of The Korea Post and Director Hong Chul-pyo of Daesung General Hospital and Consultant Key Hong of the same hospital. (See stories on pages 40-49.) k

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