1. Deputy Minister for Multilateral and Global Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Ham Sang Wook visited Brazzaville, the Republic of the Congo, on July 7^th. During his visit, he paid courtesy calls on Foreign Minister H. E. Jean-Claude Gakosso and Minister for International Cooperation and Promotion of Public and Private Partnership H.E. Denis Christel Sassou-N’guesso.

2. In the courtesy call on Foreign Minister H.E. Jean-Claude Gakosso, both sides discussed Korea-Republic of the Congo bilateral relations, trade and investment, and development cooperation, as well as regional affairs and multilateral cooperation.

o In particular, Deputy Minister Ham called for the Republic of the Congo’s active participation and cooperation in the 5^th Korea-Africa Forum, which is planned to be held this December in Seoul.

- Foreign Minister Gakosso appreciated the Korea-Africa Forum as an important platform to deepen the partnership between Korea and the African continent and pleasantly accepted the invitation to attend the forum.

3. In the courtesy call on Minister for International Cooperation and Promotion of Public and Private Partnership, H.E. Denis Christel Sassou-N’guesso, Deputy Minister Ham said he hopes to deepen the bilateral relations in a wide range of fields with the Republic of the Congo.

o Minister Sassou-N’guesso said that the Republic of the Congo is focusing on the promotion of private-public partnership in agriculture, education, tourism, infrastructure and industry and raised hope to further discuss with the ROK in an effort to promote Korean companies’ foray into in the Republic of the Congo.

4. This visit came 5 years after the ROK-Republic of the Congo Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Seoul in 2016 and it is seen to have further deepened Korea-Congo relations including high-level exchanges and economic cooperation.