Africa-Press – Angola. Angola and the Republic of Korea begin this Monday, in Seoul, to give a new impetus to bilateral relations, taking into account the 48-hour state visit of the President of the Republic, João Lourenço , to this Asian country.
Diplomatic and economic relations between the two States, started in 1992, considered “good”, should improve in the near future, due to the business opportunities that exist in both countries, as well as the five agreements to be signed during the presidential visit.
It is also worth highlighting the holding of the “Angola-Korea Business Forum”, taking place this Monday, in the capital Seoul, where President João Lourenço will be present and several Korean businesspeople interested in investing in the national territory.
Cooperation
Despite relations being established in 1992, Angola’s first resident ambassador to the Republic of Korea was accredited in 2011, therefore, more than 30 years of bilateral relations need another boost, as existing partnerships can still bear much more fruit.
The first General Agreement on Economic, Technical and Scientific Cooperation was signed during this period and this led to the creation of a mechanism for exchanging consultations, namely the bilateral commission, in essence, the Technical and Economic Commission.
The commission is the mechanism that assesses the degree of implementation of the commitments already made between the two States, and since bilateral relations were established there have only been two meetings, one in 2004 and another in 2009.
During this time, the two countries signed 12 legal instruments, this time there is a need to analyze the degree of implementation of these agreements and given the international situation and the specific situation of each country, adaptations are required to begin to deliver the results for which they were created..
These are four cooperation agreements, a cooperation protocol, five memoranda of understanding and two complementary adjustments, the latter of which result in loans from the Economic Development Cooperation Fund for financing at the level of Korea EximBank for projects to be carried out in Angola.
Of the 12 documents signed, only seven are functional, while the rest remain on paper.
There are still agreements in several areas, but these depend on a general agreement, because all others arise as a result of this.
Perspectives
Angola and South Korea should soon hold the Third Bilateral Commission to allow an assessment of the degree of compliance with actions since the first with the aim of relaunching cooperation, as well as evaluating and re-evaluating legal documents signed but not implemented.
The parties must still negotiate and finalize the Proposed Agreement on the Promotion and Reciprocal Protection of Investments, with well-established steps, to provide security to businesspeople and economic operators in both countries.
The meeting would also help to evaluate the possibility of negotiating new proposals for legal and cooperation instruments submitted for analysis by both parties, for example there are proposals for agreements in the areas of Interior and Health, particularly in qualified and professional training, transport , given the great Know-How of the South Koreans.
Another important and urgent objective to materialize is the institutionalization of the Angola/South Korea Chamber of Commerce, to ensure that businesspeople address their problems without major difficulties.
It should be noted that within the framework of public development aid, there are projects overseen by the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) whose purpose is to help projects in a non-reimbursable manner in developing countries.
KOICA, its acronym in English, primarily supports programs in the field of teacher training, strengthening institutional capacity, English courses and twinning agreements.
Regarding the latter, Luanda and Busan, the second most populous city in South Korea, signed, in 2023, a twinning agreement that serves to interact and directly resolve projects without the need for consent from ministries or regulatory institutions.
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