1. Deputy Minister for Multilateral and Global Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Ham Sang Wook visited Kinshasa, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), from July 5 to 8. During his visit, he paid courtesy calls on President H.E. Felix Tshisekedi and Foreign Minister H.E. Christophe Lutundula Apala Pen’Apala and met with Vice Foreign Minister H.E. Samy Adubango Awotho.

2. In the courtesy call on President Tshisekedi, Deputy Minister Ham commended the DRC’s leadership in consolidating peace and development in the region as the Chair of the African Union and praised its efforts for the stabilization and socio-economic development of the DRC after achieving the peaceful transition of the government for the first time in 60 years after the independence. In addition, he raised hope that the two countries would deepen the partnership between the ROK and the DRC through high-level exchanges including this visit.

o President Tshisekedi appreciated the support rendered by the Korean government to help the DRC strengthen its COVID-19 response and to support people in the Mount Nyiragongo region where volcanic eruption took place.

- President Tshisekedi looked forward to closer cooperation between the two countries in the education, health, rural development and energy sectors including hydropower.

3. In the courtesy call on Foreign Minister Lutundula, Deputy Minister Ham discussed the bilateral relations, trade and investment, and development cooperation, as well as regional situation and multilateral cooperation.

o In particular, Deputy Minister Ham invited Foreign Minister Lutundula to the 5^th Korea-Africa Forum, which is planned to be held in December this year in Seoul.

o Foreign Minister Lutundula promised his attendance and cooperation as the Chair of the African Union for the successful hosting of the Korea-Africa Forum.

o Deputy Minister Ham also called for the DRC’s attention and support to resolve the difficulties faced by Korean companies and create a favorable business environment for Korean companies in the DRC.

- In this regards, both sides agreed to resume working-level discussion to revise the text of the Bilateral Investment Treaty in order to revitalize Korean companies’ foray into the DRC.

4. Deputy Minister Ham met with Ms. Bintou Keita, UN Special Representative and Head of the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the DRC (MONUSCO), and commended MONUSCO’s contribution to the stabilization of the eastern DRC and listened to the current activities of the mission.

o Ms. Keita appreciated the ROK’s contribution towards UN Peace Keeping Operations and called for the continuous support for the resolution of the conflicts in the Eastern DR Congo. 

5. Meanwhile, Deputy Minister Ham attended the ceremony marking Korea’s donation of medical items in assistance on the fight against COVID-19, which was held at the 2^nd diagnosis center for infectious diseases of the DRC, built with the support of the ROK government in partnership with the UNDP.

6. This visit is the first high-level exchanges between Korea and the DRC after the peaceful power transition in the DRC in January 2019 and is seen to have further deepened not only the ROK-DRC relations but also the ROK’s partnership with the African Union (AU) and the United Nations (UN).