Addis Ababa, 7th December 2016: Ministers from African and Korean countries met today in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia for the 4th Forum for Africa- Korea. Cooperation. Hosted by the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia with the support of the African Union (AU) Commission and the Republic of Korea, the Forum aims to enhance and strengthen cooperation in key areas of cooperation including peace and security, economic development and Human Resource Science and Technology. .
H.E. Mr. Erastus Mwencha, the Deputy Chairperson of the African Union Commission in his opening remarks highly commended the initiative taken by the Government of Korea to support the human resources development of the continent and appreciated the Korean support for the peacekeeping process in Africa, which was announced by President Park at the United Nations General Assembly in September 2015 and hope that this support will continue in the years to come.
The Deputy chairperson said that Africa has now decided to take its destiny into its own hands by embarking on the implementation of the Africa Union Agenda 2063, adopted by African leaders during the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the OAU/AU, with a view to accelerating efforts towards attaining an integrated, prosperous and peaceful Africa, driven by its own citizens and representing a dynamic force in the global arena and therefore urged that all strategies be directed towards encouraging the private sector of the two sides to play more substantive role in the partnership.
He emphasized that Africa wants this partnership to focus on value addition and beneficiation and on promoting the sharing of Korea’s remarkable experience in creating enabling environment for the growth and development of the manufacturing sector in Africa, including blue economy and marine transport, science and technology, capacity building and linkage of small, medium and micro enterprises into the national, regional, continental and global value chains.
H.E. Dr Workneh Gebeyehu, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia in his opening remarks noted that over the last five to six decades the Republic of Korea has gone through massive Economic, social and political transformation and has become one of the industrial powerhouses of the world.
He expressed confidence that the forum will come up with a meaningful way forward for the future of the Africa-Korea Partnership drawing on practices and adapting to the objective circumstances of Africa which would bring about t value addition and beneficiation to our abundant natural resources.
H.E. Mr. Simbarashe S. Mumbengegwi in his capacity as the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Zimbabwe and the Co- Chair of the 4th Forum for Africa- Korea Cooperation in his opening remarks expressed the enthusiasm of the African side as the 4th ministerial forum provides an opportunity to work on modalities of a cooperation that draws on the common will to achieve mutually beneficial objectives in a true spirit of partnership.
He further expressed the need for Africa to benefit from the Korean experience, particularly its expertise in shipbuilding, information technology and communication, innovation and entrepreneurship which will be of great benefit to the African private sector as a mean of integration into the global value chain.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Korea H.E. Yun Byung-se in his statement indicated that his country doubled its official development assistance to Africa over the recent years. He further mentioned Korea’s quick initiative taken two year ago to send and dispatched disaster relief teams to help contain the Ebola epidemic in West Africa. He took the opportunity to appreciate the substantial measures taken by African Countries to increase their financial supports to peace and security operations in Africa as any economic achievement can easily disappear within moments once violent conflicts erupt. The Minister reiterated the commitment of Korea to share its economic development experience with Africa.
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
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Afrah Thabit - Directorate of Information and Communication -African Union Commission - Tel: +251 (0)911 200922- Email: Thabitma@africa-union.org
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Addis Ababa | Ethiopia
