Meeting of Relevant Ministries Held to Expand Africa Cooperation... Exploring Collaboration Measures

Checking the Work Status of Each Ministry and Agency During the COVID-19 Situation

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] On the afternoon of the 15th, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs held a video conference titled the ‘Inter-Ministerial Meeting for Expanding Cooperation with Africa’ chaired by Ko Kyung-seok, Director General of the Africa and Middle East Bureau, to review the status of African-related work by various ministries and agencies amid the COVID-19 situation.

This meeting was the third following the first in March and the second in October. Twenty-three related ministries and agencies involved in African policies and projects participated. Attendees from these ministries and agencies shared and reviewed the status of cooperation and support projects with Africa across various fields including health and quarantine cooperation in response to COVID-19, as well as economy, trade, education, science and ICT, agriculture, forestry, defense, public security, and administration. They agreed to seek mutual collaboration measures to ensure that these cooperative projects proceed smoothly despite the ongoing COVID-19 situation.

Some agencies and ministries experienced difficulties in carrying out originally planned projects as scheduled due to unexpected COVID-19 outbreaks, but agreed to resume them as the situation improves. They also requested cooperation from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and overseas diplomatic missions for on-site visits and close information sharing.

Furthermore, recognizing the significant changes in the African diplomatic environment, they agreed on the need to actively reflect African countries’ high expectations for cooperation in the health sector, such as sharing quarantine experiences, when promoting African policies, and to continue collaboration for this purpose.

The government has provided tangible and intangible support to help African countries respond to COVID-19, and so far has offered approximately $97 million in aid to the African Union (AU) and 44 African countries.

The Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) under the AU and Ethiopia have been designated as key regional quarantine cooperation organizations and key quarantine cooperation countries in Africa, respectively. In addition, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs organized webinars led by the COVID-19 International Quarantine Cooperation Task Force (TF), and held video conferences with Tunisia, C?te d'Ivoire, and the AU, as well as written meetings with Uganda’s health authorities.

An official from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated, “By regularly holding the ‘Inter-Ministerial Meeting for Expanding Cooperation with Africa,’ we plan to continuously strengthen the connectivity and integration among African policies and projects being promoted by each ministry and agency.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.