1. Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha, together with Foreign Minister Khemaies Jhinaoui of Tunisia, held the tenth meeting of the Republic of Korea-Tunisia joint committee at the Foreign Ministry on April 23. In the meeting, the two sides reviewed the progress in bilateral cooperation across the board, including political affairs, economy, trade, development and culture, and discussed ways to step up cooperation down the road.

※ The head and alternate head delegates to the meeting were the Foreign Minister and the Deputy Foreign Minister for Economic Affairs of the ROK, and the Foreign Minister and the director-general for American and Asia-Pacific affairs of the Tunisian Foreign Ministry, respectively. The main part of the meeting was chaired by the alternate head delegates of the two countries.

- Pursuant to the bilateral “Agreement on Trade and Economic Cooperation,” the inaugural meeting of the joint committee was held in May 1973, followed by another eight rounds, the latest of which took place in Tunis in October 2008.

° In her keynote speech at the opening ceremony, Minister Kang noted with appreciation that despite the geographical distance and cultural differences between them, the ROK and Tunisia have seen close cooperative ties move continuously forward since the establishment of diplomatic relations in 1969. She went on to voice hope that the joint committee meeting held ten years after its ninth round in October 2008 will become a starting point for opening up another 50 years of the relationship between the two countries, which will mark the 50^th anniversary of diplomatic ties in 2019.

- In addition, the Minister commended Tunisia, saying that this epicenter for the “Arab Spring,” which served as a catalyst for democratization in the Middle East, is working toward national reconciliation and development by building on its successful democratization. She added that the ROK government, born out of a candlelight revolution, and people are keenly interested in working more closely with the democratic country.

° Minister Jhinaoui, Tunisia’s head delegate, stated that Tunisia, as it seeks to implement its five-year (2016-2020) plan for national development based on the progress in democratization, regards the ROK as a development model. In particular, he expressed strong hope to learn from experiences and knowhow of the ROK, which had successfully achieved both democracy and economic growth through intensive investment in human resources.

- The Minister also mentioned that having worked at the Tunisian Embassy in the ROK in the early 1990s, he personally harbors a deep affection for the country.

2. On the heels of the opening ceremony came the main part of the meeting, chaired by the alternate head delegates, for detailed discussions on ways to work together on economy, trade, development, culture, tourism, science, technology, information and communications technology (ICT) and public administration.

° The Tunisian side brought attention to the fact that Tunisia’s geopolitical advantage of being located at the intersection among Europe, Africa and the Middle, coupled with the country’s conclusion of a FTA with the EU, has rendered easier the access to the European market via Tunisia. In that light, he asked that technologically advanced and competitive Korean companies take a keener interest in expanding their presence and investment in Tunisia, a gateway to Europe.

° The ROK side mentioned that despite the current, relatively small two-way trade volume of some $200 mln, as Tunisia has the most liberalized and competitive economic structure in Africa, the two countries have a great potential for a closer cooperation on economy and trade.

- The ROK side added that in order for Korean companies to expand presence in Tunisia, successful investment cases should build up, asking for the Tunisian government’s attention and assistance to the Korean enterprises currently operating in Tunisia.

° The ROK side, bringing attention to the country’s contribution to economic development and promotion of social welfare in Tunisia through its development cooperation projects worth approximately an annual $5 mln, conveyed hope that the two countries will seek out a larger number of development cooperation projects, such as that designed to build an ROK-style e-procurement system in Tunisia, that can help Tunisia fulfill its vision for national development.

※ The ROK’s assistance to Tunisia in the form of development cooperation from 1987 till 2017 stood at a combined $76.21 mln, ranking Tunisia 37^th of all the recipients of such assistance from the ROK.

※ Tunisia, having introduced in the country the ROK-style e-procurement system called “Narajangteo” in the latter country’s grant-aid project for the former, has been running it since January 2013. Having been renamed “TUNEPS,” the system won an Open Government Partnership Award as the African “champion” in 2015.

- During the joint committee meeting, the ROK’s Public Procurement Service and Tunisia’s High Authority for Public Procurement concluded a memorandum of understanding on cooperation.

- The Tunisian delegation extended appreciation to the ROK government for offering protocol vehicles to the Tunisian Foreign Ministry; voiced hope to broaden the scope of development cooperation projects beyond public administration, environment and energy -- the main areas of the bilateral development cooperation projects -- to include technology, ICT and healthcare; and asked the ROK government to consider dispatching Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) volunteers and senior experts to Tunisia.

※ The ROK government provided three protocol vehicles to the Tunisian Foreign Ministry in April 2018 in a small-scale grant-aid project for Tunisia.

- Amid the worsening public security situation in Tunisia, as can be seen from the terrorist attack on the country’s Bardo National Museum in 2015, the ROK government has been delaying additional dispatches of KOICA volunteers to the country.

° The two sides drew a common understanding that the two countries with shared democratization experiences and values should work together to resolve disputes and conflicts in their regions. The Tunisian delegation expressed wish for the success of the upcoming inter-Korean summit talks. The ROK side, underscoring the importance of peace and stability in the Middle East to the Korean Peninsula and the rest of the international community, spoke of the ROK’s active participation in projects designed to provide humanitarian assistance to and stabilize regions in dispute.

3. On the heels of the joint committee meeting, the ROK and Tunisian Foreign Ministers signed the agreed minutes and agreed to hold inter-sessional meetings and keep open other consultative channels between relevant government agencies of the two countries in a bid to seek ways to smoothly implement the measures agreed upon at the joint committee meeting.

* unofficial translation