Addis Ababa, Ethiopia- 6th December 2016: Governments of Member States of the African Union (AU) and Republic of Korea will meet at the Fourth Africa-Korea Forum to advance the future cooperation. The Forum kicked off today 6th December 2016, with the Meeting of Senior Officials at the AU Headquarters, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
The Forum aims to enhance and strengthen economic, social and political corporation between Africa and Korea. It will also review the implementation of the previous plan of action (2013-2015) to identify areas of corporation based on mutual interests for the coming five years.
Speaking at the Opening Session, H.E. Amb. Cherif Mahamat Zene, in his capacity as Chairperson of the Permanent Representative Committee (PRC) of the African Union and Co-chair of the Senior Officials Meeting representing the African side noted that the 4th Africa-Korea Forum, which is taking place in Africa for the first time will give a new opportunity to evaluate the outcomes of the previous three Forums, which were held in Korea. He recalled that the partnership in the past focused mainly on bilateral undertakings and in this regard, informed the meeting of the determination of the African Union to further strengthen its partnerships with Korea, focusing on multilateral projects that would contribute to the integration efforts of the African continent. This of course will be done without prejudice to the bilateral relations that exist between Korea and individual African countries.
Representing the host country, H.E. Ambassador. Wahide Belay, Permanent Representative of FDRE to the African Union and ECA, identified the possible areas that the two sides could pursue their cooperation, in light of the remarkable economic development that Korea registered in a short period of time. He noted that the Africa-Korea Partnership is one of the key strategies for the advancement of integrating the African continent into the global economy. Given the time constraint, he urged the meeting to be efficient in its deliberation to finalize the documents for adoption by the Ministers.
On behalf of H.E. the Chairperson of the African Union Commission, the Commissioner for Trade and Industry of the African Union, H.E. Mrs. Fatima Acyl highlighted the purpose of the meeting, which is to prepare for the 4th Africa-Korea Forum. In this regard, she underlined the need to critically examine the draft outcome documents of the Forum, while at the same time thanking the preparatory committee for the excellent work done in this regard. H.E. the Commission described the Forum as an efficient framework to strengthen the relationships between Africa and Korea. While recognizing the bilateral relations between Korea and individual African Countries, she highlighted the need to move to a new direction, which will focus on multilateral undertakings in line with Agenda 2063, developed through a people driven process. She finally expressed her hope that consensus will be reached on the documents, so as to facilitate the Ministerial Forum.
Speaking earlier, H.E. Mr. Mr. Kwon Hee-seog, Director General of African and Middle Eastern Affairs Bureau at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Korea and Co-chair of the meeting, expressed happiness for the convening of the 4th Africa-Korea Forum for the first time in Africa, He highlighted some of the achievements of the Forum in the past He referred to the visit of H.E. the President of Korea to the African Union which he considered as very fruitful. He expressed his hope that the Forum will reach to aconsensus in order to keep the momentum created by the visit of the Korean president.
Initiated and organized for the first time in November 2006 in Seoul, Korea, the Africa – Korea Forum is triennial Ministerial Conference that serves as a framework of friendship, partnership and cooperation between African countries and Korea. The Forums previous two sessions were held in 2009 and 2012 in Seoul. The 4th Session held for the first time in an African soil following an agreement reached in 2012 that Forum should be held alternately in Africa and in Korea.
The Fourth Forum is expected to follow up on the 3rd Forum projects and to further consolidate and develop areas of cooperation, in particular; economic cooperation, human resources development, science and technology, and youth development and women’s empowerment. The Forum will also examine the progress of the Africa-Korea partnership and discuss common achievements as well as encountered implementation challenges. It is also expected to map out the future direction of the partnership based on the lessons learnt.
The Senior Officials Session will, among others, consider the review of the implementation of the Plan of Action (2013-2015) of the 3rd Africa-Korea Forum, the draft Addis Ababa Declaration of the 4th Africa-Korea Forum, and the draft Framework for Cooperation of the 4th Africa-Korea Forum, and adoption of the their recommendations to be submitted to the Ministerial Meeting, to be held on 7 December.
The meeting was attended by senior officials from AU member states, AU Commission officials, Chairs of the Regional Economic communities,
For Further Information contact:
Dr. Levi Madueke – Head of Partnerships/ Bureau of the Chairperson/ African Union Commission/ Tel: +251-11-5517700/+251 912641293/ E-mail: maduekel@africa-union.org
Media inquiries:
Afrah Thabit - Directorate of Information and Communication -African Union Commission - Tel: +251 (0)911 200922- Email: Thabitma@africa-union.org
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Directorate of Information and Communication | Information and Communication | African Union Commission
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Addis Ababa | Ethiopia
