1. On the afternoon of December 8, Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Choi Jong Kun attended and delivered welcoming remarks at “the 3rd Seoul Dialogue on Africa,” which was co-hosted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Korea-Africa Foundation.

° Vice Minister Choi highly commended African countries for their strong resilience in responding to COVID-19 demonstrated by prompt and decisive measures, which were lessons learned from dealing with Ebola and other infectious diseases in the past. He also praised the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) for its leading role in continent-wide coordination.

° Vice Minister Choi also noted that Korea and African countries have engaged in an unprecedented level of mutual cooperation, such as Korea’s assistance worth 160 million U.S. dollars to 53 out of the 54 African countries to help their COVID-19 response. He added that African countries including Morocco, Gabon and Equatorial Guinea supported the repatriation of Korean nationals via their chartered flights that they sent to purchase Korea-made test kits. He also expressed commitment that Korea will cooperate in solidarity with Africa to overcome the COVID-19 pandemic.

° Vice Minister Choi stressed that, as part of the efforts to strengthen cooperation with Africa in the public health area, Korea has been expanding collaboration with the Africa CDC and deepening private-public cooperation with bilateral partner countries such as the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Senegal in the area.

° The Vice Minister mentioned that as the soon-to-be-launched African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) is poised to integrate a 2.5 trillion U.S. Dollar market into the global economy, Korea will continue its efforts to support Africa’s industrialization. He added that the Korean government, as a genuine partner for Africa on its journey toward sustainable peace, will make efforts to step up its development cooperation efforts to help Africa address the root causes of political instability.

° Lastly, Vice Minister Choi mentioned that he is paying attention to the role of the African Union (AU) in reinforcing Korea-Africa cooperation and that Korea has been continuously contributing to the Korea-AU Cooperation Fund and the AU Peace Fund, while highlighting the significance of the Korea-Africa Forum to be held in 2021.

2. Also present at the opening ceremony were AU Commissioner for Peace and Security Smail Chergui, lawmaker and Chairman of the National Assembly Forum for Africa’s New Era Sul Hoon, and dean of the African diplomatic corps in Korea Carlos Boungou.