“Korea-Africa Foundation” Established as Affiliate of Foreign Ministry

With consecutive Africa-related events in Koea since the end of May, this year, Korea-Africa relations are being newly illuminated.

First off, the opening ceremony of the “Korea-Africa Foundation” took place at 18:00-19:20, June 25, in the “Community Chest of Korea” building that will house the Foundation. The event brought together Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha, lawmakers of ruling and opposition parties who are members of the National Assembly Forum for Africa's New Era, and diplomats from African countries to the Republic of Korea including Angola Amb. Albino Malungo who serves as Dean of African Group Ambassadors in Korea, Morocco Amb. Chafik Rachadi, Kenya Amb. Mohamed Abdi Gello, Cote D’Ivoire Amb. Sylvestre Kouassi BILE, Rwanda Amb. Isumbingabo Emmafrancoise, Sudan Amb. Mohamad Abdelaal Haroon and more.

According to MOFAT, The “Korea-Africa Foundation” has been established pursuant to the “Korea-Africa Foundation act,” which, after ruling and opposition parties jointly proposed the enactment thereof, was proclaimed and brought into force in October 2017. The launch of the Foundation, the fourth subsidiary body the Foreign Ministry established 21 years after it had done its third to reflect the steadily growing importance of diplomacy toward Africa, carries significance in that it demonstrates the ROK government’s commitment to diversifying its diplomacy and beefing up its diplomatic infrastructure.

Touching upon the fact that African continent is enormous and is a continent full of possibilities & diversity, MOFAT Minister Kang who was on hand, emphasized that Africa occupying over one fourth among UN member countries, is an awful important diplomacy's venue for global issues such as development cooperations & human rights etc.

For reference, The Foreign Ministry’s affiliates are the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), the Korea Foundation and the Overseas Koreans Foundation. The first two were established in 1991 and the other in 1997. The “Korea-Africa Foundation” will conduct expert research and studies on Africa and will actively help Korean companies build presence in the region and help to boost exchanges and cooperation between the private sectors of the two sides. Furthermore, the body, in organic cooperation with other relevant organizations, is expected to serve as a platform for private-public cooperation on the ROK’s diplomacy toward Africa, said the Korea-Africa Foundation.

With a view to forging more harmony & solidarity between African countries in Korea, The Africa Day 2018 reception took place at a downtown hotel Seoul on June 20th evening while Dean Angola Amb. Albino Malungo said by his congratulatory remarks that Korea-African relations paved the way for a new chapter with the successful outcomes of the African Development Bank 2018 Annual Meetings in Busan, Korea last May.

Over the past two decades, Africa has demonstrated its potential by achieving a dramatic growth. And now the region is emerging as the next economic growth engine of the world, stressed Malungo. Korea is regarded as a good example of remarkable economic development. Thanks to industrialization, the country could rapidly transform itself from a least developed country to one of the advanced countries in the world, Angola envoy added.
To make the growth trajectory of the two regions more robust and sustainable, constant efforts to upgrade industry structure and increase productivity are fundamentally required.

Last but not least, The Korean government and the African Development Bank Group jointly hosted the 2018 Annual Meetings of the African Development Bank in Busan, Republic of Korea, on May 21-25, 2018.

Deputy Prime Minister Kim Dong-yeon said we now have reached a critical juncture in the midst of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. In order to take this unstoppable trend of the time as a new growth opportunity, we have to discover a more innovative strategy and think out of the box rather than dwelling in the past. And this is not just an issue of Korea and Africa, but a challenge that the global community faces.